Everything Begins with Choice
by Biskoff
Summary: The day of the preliminaries, Naruto accepted Ebisu's offer of training without being forced to by Kakashi. This single change brings about many others during the month until the Third Exam. But what do his fellow genin's think about the new Naruto?
1. Prologue

"Is everything ready?"

Two men stood at the top of the Hokage Monument, one with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a beige flack vest underneath a red cloak with small white flames decorating the bottom hem. The other was a massive man who had what appeared to be red stripes tattooed from his eyes to the bottom of his cheeks, with snow white hair tied in a horsetail traveling the whole length of his back. The larger man was wearing outlandish red and green clothes. The two men were some of the greatest ninja the Hidden Leaf had ever produced, Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage, also known as the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, and Jiraiya of the Legendary Three Ninja.

From where they stood, small flashes from jutsus and explosive tags could be seen in the distance, and a monstrous beast of red and orange with nine tails whipping around it was clearly visible as it slowly but surely made its way to the East Gate of the village. Behind the creature lay a trail of destruction that could be seen all the way to the far horizon. Trees that had stood for centuries lay broken and uprooted, massive gouges dozens of feet long marred the once beautiful earth created by claws far larger than a full grown man, and craters formed by jutsus and explosions dotted the landscape. In the far distance, a massive plume of smoke and ash rose hundreds of feet into the night sky; it was all that remained of the small trading village of Waru. All were caused by the Kyuubi, which had begun its rampage three months ago in the northern mountains of Lightning Country. Three months and over two dozen villages and towns wiped off the face of the earth, and the Kyuubi still had not been stopped, until today.

"Yes, Minato, everything is ready to go, the baby is on the alter in the sealing room, the seals are all in place there so the Kyuubi will be sealed through you and into him, and the other seal has been placed on his lower back to keep his ancestry a secret. The only thing that's missing IS YOU KILLING YOURSELF LIKE AN IDIOT!"

Jiraiya's voice rose in volume and pitch at the last part of his tirade, he was obviously angered and upset at his student's course of action. But…but…it had to be done, or who knew how many other villages and cities this damn fox might destroy.

His concern and anger didn't seem to affect the younger man however, "Come on Ero-sensei, I'm not gonna be alive in an hour, and this is how you say good bye?" He took a glance at his teacher, who was still frowning, and Minato could see his sensei's eyes becoming misty and understood this was not a time for jokes. But he really couldn't help himself. This was good bye forever, but he would be damned if he was going to be depressed about something he had chosen to do and was willing to do. For Minato, this was his duty, to die for the Leaf. There were just so many people he was leaving behind, and he knew not many would accept his passing with nearly as much calm as Jiraiya was showing right now.

With a sigh Minato continued speaking in a more serious voice "Ero-sensei, this _has_ to be done, you know it as well as I do. So please, let's just not argue about this anymore." There was a pause, as the blonde thought about what his last conversation alive should be about. "How's the baby? I only got to hold him once and kiss Aigyou good bye before I had to leave and I barely had time for even that, but between evacuating the village and making a decent defense…damn it I'm going to die without knowing the name of my son, or did Aigyou name him already." He put a hand to his face and wiped away the small droplets that were forming at his eyes. "How is she, by the way, she's going to have a hell of a time raising a kid on her own."

"Aigyou passed away right after naming him."

There was a shocked pause coupled with a disbelieving stare. "What…" he rasped out.

Jiraiya answered before Minato could finish "Her illness finally caught up with her, I think she only lasted this long so she could give birth. If Tsunade had returned maybe we could have found a cure, but that didn't happen." Jiraiya let out a tired sigh before continuing with his news. "When I learned she was dead I placed the second seal on him without your approval, so no one will know who his parents are. And I think you should know there's a chance that Naruto inherited the disease as well…"

"Is that what she named him, Naruto?" Minato's face was an odd mixture of sadness and amusement.

"Heh, yep, she was the only person that liked ramen more than you. The little runt's full name is Naruto-"

"Uzumaki." Minato cut his teacher off before he could finish, and a few tears rolled down his face as he continued to speak. "He'll take his mother's name. To keep him safe. I'll also need you to alter the records Ero-sensei. Change them so that he's just an orphan, a no-one from an unknown family that we picked out and gave him the last name Uzumaki because… because he was born the day she died." Minato took a shuddering breath before he continued; he hated doing this, but if his son was to live very long without either of his parents there were measures that had to be taken. "No one can know whose son he is. I left some letters and belongings sealed away in a few scrolls that are time-sealed in the Hokage archives, their set for fifteen years so he'll be old enough to know and _understand_ the truth and why we did it. I don't like it, but without Aigyou to protect him this needs to be done, if the wrong people find out…"

Jiraiya didn't need him to finish the sentence. If Naruto's heritage became known, his life would be in constant danger, even with the relative safety of the Hidden Leaf and the ANBU guards that would be placed around the boy because of his role as the Kyuubi's living prison. It was part of the reason why the secondary seal was placed on the newborn child. And thinking of that other seal…

"You know, Minato, when you saw Naruto it was before I put the seal on him, after the seal though, he looked almost like a little clone of you. The seal did its job well, no one should be able to piece together his heritage, which his eyes gave away right off the bat. Once I remove the seal when he's older… it'll be painful when his body changes, but he'll go back to how he really looks. And once that happens" Jiraiya let out a perverted giggle "he shall smite the ladies with his good looks and I shall train him how to use those looks and become the super-pervert of his generation!" As Jiraiya said this he thrust both his fists upwards and plastered a lecherous grin on his face.

Minato mock glared at his sensei for a moment before smiling slightly and looked up at the moon. He paused for a moment before responding. Jiraiya's words, though meant in jest (maybe), struck a chord in him. He realized that he would not get to see what his son became, he would not be there to see the man his little baby boy would grow into. Damn he really wanted to see his son again. He wanted to see Naruto's face, to hold him one more time, just one more time for Kami's sake. Oh, what he would have given for this damn fox to never have existed. He wanted to see his boy take his first steps, to watch him go to the Academy and learn, to follow his father's footsteps. It was times like these he wondered if taking up the mantle of the Hokage was truly worth it. No, of course it was worth it, he loved this village and he even though he was leaving everyone and everything behind he was saving Naruto's life from the jaws of the Kyuubi.

"Well, Aigyou had some distinct features, that's what made her beautiful. Hehe, maybe you're right Ero-sensei, with a beautiful mother and with someone as handsome as me as his father he'll have girls tripping over him when he gets older." Minato stopped speaking for a moment, he couldn't keep thinking about these things. They made him just want to take his boy and run away from here and just live out his life in peace like he had planned, like he and his wife had planned…No! He had a job to do, and he had to make sure everything was ready, that everything would be set for his son once he grew up and learned who he truly was.

"Aside from you and me, Ero-sensei, how many others know the truth about this whole mess?"

Jiraiya was silent for a moment, his brow furrowed in thought, "No one, there are plenty of rumors, sure, of course the one rumor that's true nobody believes." Both of them shared a small laugh at this before the Toad Hermit continued "I think Sarutobi suspects, but he has no proof. After Orochimaru was driven out of the country and we learned that you got Aigyou pregnant, we've done a damn good job at keeping it a secret from everyone. And if anyone sees the seal on the runt's back, they'll just assume its part of the imprisonment seal and leave it alone."

There was a pause, as each tried to fill the silence with something more, something else to say before the younger of two was gone forever. It was Jiraiya who broke the uneasy quiet. "You know Minato, it's kind of funny, now that I'm thinking about it… that despite everything his father did, that little runt ends up the one saving us all." He sent a meaningful glance over at Minato, who was simply staring down the mountain at the village with an unreadable expression on his face. At hearing his old sensei's words however, a twisted smile found its way onto his face "Yes, Fate seems to have one hell of a sense of humor."

A massive roar and the sound of hundreds of tons of stone crashing down was heard in the distance, and both men looked out to the edge of the village where the Kyuubi, shrouded in smoke and rubble and dust, had just broken through the East Gate and was already proceeding to destroy the outlying buildings. Had they really spent so long up here, trying to postpone the inevitable? Both Minato and Jiraiya looked at each other for a moment, before Jiraiya reached forward and embraced his young student for the last time with trembling arms.

"Take care of yourself, Ero-sensei." Minato mumbled into the larger man's shoulder.

"You too, kid." Jiraiya responded as they separated.

Minato looked out over the Village of the Hidden Leaf, _his_ village, his home, for the last time, as if trying to memorize it all and remember it for forever. Both of them walked over to the edge of the mountain and Arashi once again looked at the man he had called 'sensei' since he was seven years old when he graduated the academy. "Hey Ero-sensei, summon Gamabunta for me. I'm gonna need all the chakra I have for the seal to work. I'm probably going take about a dozen or so soldier pills to make sure there's enough chakra to fuel the seal and make sure the Kyuubi can't resist."

As one, they leapt off the edge of the Hokage Mountain. As they fell Jiraiya made a small cut on his thumb with a kunai and, with the proper hand seals yelled out "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" In an instant, a massive cloud of smoke appeared and hid the two men from view. Out from the bottom of the cloud a gargantuan red toad, wearing a blue jacket and a massive tanto, plummeted to ground. His massive legs softened his impact as he landed at the bottom of the mountain, despite the fact that his very landing shook every building in the entire village. Upon his head stood the only two men still alive who had signed his summoning contract.

Gamabunta looked up at the teacher and his pupil, noting the looks of grim determination on both of them, and then looked out across the village to where the massive fox now stood still and knew instantly what was going on. And knew instantly that his favorite summoner would not be alive by morning. The Kyuubi had stopped its attack as soon as it had seen the massive puff of smoke from Gamabunta and had its head pointed towards the boss toad, with its red eyes narrowed and its massive ears flattened against its head. Gamabunta spoke what he knew would be his last words to his blonde summoner.

"**So this is it, eh Minato?**" Gamabunta took a long drag from his pipe, and exhaled the smoke through his nostrils "**I know this won't really make a difference with what's about to happen, but… you have been the greatest man to have ever signed my contract. That's no lie. All the toads will mourn your passing.**"

Minato only smiled sadly in response before looking at his teacher, who was still standing at his side. "Jiraiya, this is where you get off." The white haired man looked shifted his attention from the fox demon at the far side of the village to his student. For the first time in eighteen years Minato had called him by his real name instead of that damnable 'Ero-sensei', but it brought no joy or happiness to him. There was only the sad truth that his best student, the man he had always seen as a son was going to die in a matter of minutes.

"Yeah, I guess it is." With that, Jiraiya made to jump off the giant toad but was stopped by his student one last time.

"Ero-sensei one last thing, get that book of yours published, Icha Icha-whatever-it-is. I think if you market it right, and maybe cut down on the smut, it'll be a bestseller. And make sure Sarutobi knows that Naruto is a hero. I may be saving us all right now, but my son will be protecting this village every day he breathes." Minato said with a genuine smile on his face. "Now, I've got a job to do. Let's go, Gama-ojiisan."

Jiraiya jumped off Gamabunta just before the great toad took a massive leap towards the monstrous fox demon. As Gamabunta reached the highest point of his jump, he unsheathed the tanto on his back. As soon as he landed at the side of the Kyuubi, atop some ruined buildings, he twisted to the side and struck out with the blade, creating a wound from the fox's rear leg up to its forward shoulder. Flinching away slightly in anger and pain, the Kyuubi lashed back with three of its massive tails. Minato saw them coming however "Gama-ojiisan, jump backwards NOW!"

"**I KNOW!**" With a powerful thrust of his hind legs Gamabunta leapt backwards but did not manage to avoid the tip of one of the tails as it swung downward, leaving a bloody gash across the left side of his face. The ground Gamabunta had been standing on moments before did not fair nearly as well. As soon as the tails hit the earth it shattered upwards and outwards, leaving nothing but three small canyons where a market district had once been.

As Gamabunta landed, his left eye shut tight from the pain and blood, the Kyuubi turned its body to face the boss toad. The village it had previously entered was now behind it and no longer its target, no longer its goal. The village could wait, this… this pitiful frog that _dared_ to harm it would be destroyed first, and then it would return to finish killing the little flesh-sacks and crushing their homes.

Minato looked on as the injury caused by Gamabunta's blade quickly healed and disappeared. It was as if the large wound was never even there, but still the Kyuubi's focus was on them and that was what mattered. "Well, we have its attention Gama-ojiisan, now let's draw it away from the village, and then I'll take care of the rest." Minato said, as he pulled out a small bag from one of the pockets in his vest and began eating the small black pills that would give him the chakra he needed to defeat the Kyuubi.

With a grunt of agreement the mighty amphibian took another leap backwards, further away from the Village of the Hidden Leaf. With a throaty growl, the Kyuubi followed.

--

Twenty minutes later, a group of seals in a small room at the Hokage Tower burned red, and the blond-haired baby laying in the alter at the center began to cry as a burning sensation made itself known in his abdomen. A spiral marking set in a circular seal slowly appeared around the boy's navel as soon as the seals on the floor and walls began to glow with chakra. Within a minute, the seals dulled back to their original inky color, but the baby kept crying even as a balding man in his late fifties with a goatee and three small lines near each of his eyes entered the room. He picked up and cradled the still crying newborn in his arms, and started feeding the boy a small bottle of warmed milk.

The man walked out of the room with the blonde-haired babe and sighed, "Well, it looks like the future is going to be an unusual thing for the both of us, eh, little Naruto? I get back the job that I gave up only a few years ago, and you…" Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, looked at the small child sucking contentedly on the bottle and smiled sadly "well, who knows. But know that whatever your future may be, I will help you get there as best I can."

--

First off, let's get the disclaimer out of the way.

I do not own the Naruto franchise or anything associated with it.

Alright, here's the prologue to my first story ever, Everything Begins With Choice. Yes, those words are from the Matrix, so I guess you can say that I don't own the title either. But whatever, the title fits the story in my opinion. This idea came to me when I was thinking how much Naruto would improve with a supportive sensei. Kakashi, while I agree that he is a kick ass ninja, does nothing to shows he cares about either Sakura or Naruto's growth during part 1.

Naruto displays an immense ability to grow when he is properly motivated and instructed. He learned the Rasengan in about 3 weeks with _minimal_ help and the Kage Bunshin in about 5 hours when he had a scroll. Maybe less, since we aren't given a time frame of how long Naruto was out in the forest reading the scroll. With the Kuchiyose Jutsu, I honestly don't know why it took him so long, but I have ideas. His growth could have been massive, but for whatever reason, Kakashi did not even tell Naruto about the benefits of shadow clones until after the time skip. So in this story Kakashi, while he will not be truly bad, Naruto will see him as he does everyone else. Someone who just doesn't care about the fox brat.

This story shows what Naruto might be capable of if he had someone there to truly help him, and about his relationships with his fellow genins during this period of maturing and his increase in skill as a ninja.

A few things for you all to know. I will be keeping to the western style of names. I will not be writing names as Yamanaka Ino or Uzumaki Naruto. It will be Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki. I will also be keeping some titles and locations in their English translations. Konoha will be written as the Hidden Leaf, Suna will be Sand, and so on. Also, Subaku no Gaara will be Gaara of the Desert. This is simply to make it easier for people that don't know the Japanese names. However, I will be keeping the jutsu names in Japanese, since I tend to hate the dubbed anime translations and the literal translations are usually too long.

I think that's it. So read and review, and the next chapter will be up soon.


	2. The Different Choice

Chapter 1: The Different Choice

13 Years Later, The Day of The 3rd Exam Preliminaries

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"I have something to do, so I don't have time to look after you."

What? What did Kakashi-sensei mean he couldn't look after him? He didn't need to be bay-sat, he needed to be trained. He was going against Neji Hyuuga, the genius, the prodigy, the guy who almost killed Hinata! Besides, Kakashi-sensei was _supposed_ to train him, what was the use of a sensei if he never taught anything. If Sasuke asked Kakashi for training he'd probably agree without a second thought. Heck, Kakashi was actually more likely to ask Sasuke if he'd like some one on one training, just like he always did during practice sessions.

Wait a minute.

With an accusing finger pointed towards the cycloptic jounin, Naruto yelled out "Ahhh! I got it! You're going to train Sasuke, huh?"

Naruto completely ignored the glares the two nurses down the hall gave him as he shouted at Kakashi. They would probably glare at him even if he was talking quietly, stupid people. However, the disapproving glint in his sensei's visible eye was far more painful than any scolding from strangers.

Why couldn't he make Kakashi-sensei proud, like he was of Sasuke and Sakura-chan? No, no, Kakashi-sensei was proud of him. He was, he just didn't say so very often, or act like it… Bah! He couldn't think things like that, because Kakashi-sensei wasn't like the teachers at the Academy. He was proud of Naruto, and he cared about how good a ninja he was. Of course Kakashi-sensei cared, right? Right…

But that still didn't let the slacker of a sensei off the hook. Even though he did care (because he did!), what was with just leaving Naruto by himself for a full month and then letting him get pounded into the arena floor by Neji Hyuuga. That must be it! Kakashi-sensei probably already had a bet placed on Neji, it wouldn't be too surprising. After all, who expected that _that_ Naruto, the dead-last, the dumb ass, the dropout could ever hope to defeat the _great_ Neji Hyuuga.

"Now, now, don't get mad. I found a much better teacher for you than me."

A better teacher? A better teacher!?! Who could possibly be better than Kakashi-sensei? He was THE Kakashi Hatake, the Cop Cat nin, the Sharingan wielder, the master of a thousand kick ass jutsus! There wasn't anyone better, there couldn't be. But he might as well ask who his sensei was talking about, and then try and argue that Kakashi was a far better a teacher than whoever was supposed to train him.

Or maybe…should he do what Kakashi-sensei was telling him? Maybe if he was more obedient, maybe if he listened more like other students Kakashi would be more proud of him, even though he was proud of him already. Because Kakashi-sensei _was_ proud of him damn it! But still…who was he talking about?

"Who?" Naruto questioned hesitantly.

"That would be me!"

'_Eh?_' Naruto turned his head around as he heard a familiar voice that he couldn't place immediately, and saw a fairly tall man with dark brown hair wearing what looked to be the standard dark blue jounin pants and shirt with bandages wrapped around his lower calves. His posture was very rigid, and upon his face he wore a pair of rimless circular sunglasses. His short hair was almost completely covered by a bandana the same shade as the rest of his clothes, and he had his forehead protector sewn into the front of it.

He looked really familiar for some reason, Naruto knew he had met the guy somewhere before. Wait a second…he was Konohamaru's teacher, that closet pervert Ebisu!

Naruto's eyes widened in recognition as remembered the last encounter he had with the man. This guy, he had the same eyes as everyone else, those same cold eyes. There was no way he would let this guy train him, he was just like those jerk teachers at the academy.

Naruto swung his body around completely and pointed at the man in outrage, with his eyes wide and his body slightly crouched from his disbelief that _this_ guy was asked by Kakashi-sensei to train him. Maybe if he pissed the closet pervert off he would refuse, and then Kakashi-sensei would be forced to help.

"Ahhh! You're the closet pervet!"

The man's jaw tightened slightly and his index and middle finger pushed his sunglasses further up his nose, but aside from a simple comment of "How impolite" he made no other movement of anger or retaliation against Naruto for the outburst.

What the hell? The last time Naruto saw this guy he would probably have scolded him or glared at him or cuffed him in the back of the head. Why wasn't he doing that now?

Either way it didn't matter. The guy was like everyone else, he wouldn't take training Naruto seriously or he would train him wrong purposely. Everyone but Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei did that. But then again Kakashi-sensei hadn't really trained him in anything, and the closet pervert didn't seem to openly hate him anymore…

'_Oh, I get it. He's acting nice only because Kakashi-sensei is here._' Naruto thought.

The closet pervert would go back to normal once Kakashi left them by themselves. So that was his game. Well no dice, it wouldn't work! Naruto would piss him off now, and get this closet pervert to show his true colors, and then Kakashi-sensei would realize that this man was no good.

"Why?! Why is this guy going to be the one to watch over my training?! He's weaker than me to begin with!"

Hah, there was no way this closet pervert wouldn't respond to a jab like that. Naruto was the dead-last of his class. By saying that last bit the closet pervert would definitely get angry. He basically said that the man had no skills whatsoever with that comment. The last time Naruto had met the guy, he had been furious when Naruto had spouted off with something similar. The closet pervert had been reserved, but still furious.

So why wasn't he acting furious now? Again, there was no reprimand or glare, there was only a slight scowl on the man's face where before there had been a neutral expression. Kakashi-sensei spoke for the first time since the closet pervert arrived. His comment however, was not what Naruto wanted to hear at the moment.

"What?" There was nothing else. There was no questioning look in Kakashi's eye, no sudden suspicion of the closet pervert, no nothing. Just a blank look that, if absolutely anything, showed complete apathy.

His sensei's apparent indifference only further angered Naruto. The blonde's whole body was trembling from both anger and sadness. First Kakashi-sensei got someone who hated him and now that he was trying to show it, Kakashi-sensei didn't even care. Maybe the silver haired man still thought Ebisu didn't hate him, the pervert hadn't made any actions that pointed that way.

Okay, so Naruto just had to keep going, keep pushing the closet pervert's buttons and then show Kakashi-sensei that only he was the right ninja to go to for training. '_Maybe if I embarrass this closet pervert he'll show how much he hates me._'

"Because, because! Last time, when I used my Harem Jutsu on him…"

_That_ got a reaction. Ebisu stood up perfectly straight, and his hands rose slightly from panic. As a quick replay of that humiliating event flashed through Ebisu's mind, his jaw opened and started trembling and he immediately rushed forward to stop Naruto from finishing his sentence. Within a matter of seconds, Ebisu had covered Naruto's mouth with one hand and wrapped his other arm under Naruto's own and held it in place. Naruto started flailing around as best he could with his movement so restricted by Ebisu.

He had been in this kind of position before, someone would hold him from behind while another would punch him all over his front and face. While he knew he shouldn't have anything to be afraid of, since the Hokage would send any ninja caught harassing Naruto straight to Ibiki Morino, the response was still engrained in him.

13 years of getting beaten up by bullies and the occasional group of drunks had led to a near phobia of physical contact if it wasn't a part of training or fighting. Naruto was only thinking of how to make this guy let go, but the closet pervert was a special-jounin. This man could slit his throat in a heartbeat, just like that guy at the weapons store had threatened to do if he ever came back to buy something.

Finally Naruto's mind snapped out of panic mode and he started consciously thinking again.

Here! Here it was, the guy was practically choking him, and Kakashi-sensei could easily see that this bastard was just like the rest of the village and couldn't be counted on to train him. He would probably kill him as an _accident_ in their training, like that teacher from his first year at the academy said would happen to him. So…why wasn't Kakashi-sensei doing anything? Why wasn't he stopping the closet pervert? He was just standing there with his hands partly in his pockets, only now there was a small glint of interest in his eye. Interest for what?! This closet pervert was strangling him for Kami's sake!

"Harem Jutsu?" Kakashi asked with his typical lazy drawl.

That was what he was interested in? _'I'm dieing right in front of him, and he wants to know about my Harem Jutsu?!?'_

With his mouth covered Naruto could not voice his enraged thoughts however, and Ebisu quickly tried to steer Kakashi away from his current line of questioning. "Oh no, it's nothing, really."

Once Ebisu had said this he removed his hand from Naruto's mouth and shifted it to his other wrist, putting the blonde in a full headlock. So why wasn't Kakashi-sensei doing anything yet? Naruto narrowed his eyes so that his pupils were barely visible, both from his struggle to release himself from Ebisu's hold and to sneak a look at his teacher.

What he saw when he looked at Kakashi though, broke the proverbial camel's back.

Kakashi still had not moved. He had not moved his stance, he had not moved even an inch to make some kind of reassuring gesture to Naruto or an attempt to help him. His eye was still just taking in the scene as it happened. There was no protective glint, no small eye-smile to make him think everything would be fine, just that Kami… damned… uncaring… uninterested… dull… look.

That was it, wasn't it? Kakashi-sensei didn't care.

That thought rang through his mind as Ebisu leaned inward and whispered so that only Naruto could hear it "I'll treat you to anything you want later, just please don't tell anyone about that."

That sentence created a second jolt throughout Naruto. The closet pervert wasn't threatening him, the guy wasn't leaning for a kunai or something to make a unspoken demand for him to be silent. The closet perver…no, _Ebisu_ had asked, even if it hadn't been posed as a question. He had even thrown in a bribe, free ramen at Ichiraku's, to try and convince him. But it was still his choice if he continued talking about his Harem Jutsu and how it had totally dominated Ebisu.

But it might be a ploy, it might be a trick, to get Naruto to lower his guard and gain his trust and then BAM. He would be betrayed. Again.

Like Kakashi-sensei was betraying him right now by refusing to help him.

In an instant his mind was made up. He would take the chance with the closet pervert, it was better than staying with someone who only wanted to see just one of his students pass the exams.

But still… he didn't want to give up on Kakashi-sensei. He wanted the man's respect, he wanted Kakashi to be proud of him, he wanted Kakashi to look at him and say 'that is my student'. But one last look at that eye again, that same unconcerned eye, and Naruto's decision was cemented.

As Kakashi leaned down slightly and started speaking again, still with that same blank look in his eye, Naruto interrupted him.

"Fine."

Kakashi stopped speaking immediately, and Ebisu instantly released Naruto from his headlock. Kakashi's visible eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch before returning to its usual spot and he tilted his head slightly in a questioning gesture, but the same bored look was still there.

"What was that, Naruto?" Kakashi had to be hearing things, there was no way his overly loud blonde student would just agree to something like this. He was expecting a continued fight against his decision. It was almost awkward that Naruto had agreed to something like this without much more prompting and lecturing that it was for the best.

Noisy and long bouts of yelling were always abound if the orange clad boy didn't want to do something. And he had said he didn't want Ebisu, so what was the deal?

Ebisu was in a similar state of shock, though his was much more readable. Both of his eyebrows were raised, his mouth was slightly open and his head was tilted downwards toward Naruto, as if trying to figure out if he had actually heard right. His thoughts mirrored Kakashi's but for a very different reason.

Why had the boy agreed? The last time they had met he had done nothing but antagonize the fox vessel. Granted, after spending some time with Konohamaru he realized that Naruto was more than he seemed, he had been a very good influence on the Third's grandson and had managed to instill a desire to work hard. But there was no way Naruto could know of his altered perspective. Which meant… there was something else going on here, and he was going to find out what. There was no way the boy would simply allow himself to be trained by someone he believed hated him, a someone who had called him a failure during their last encounter. There was no way he would be doing this without a very interesting reason. A reason the boy was hiding.

Naruto knew that both of the older ninjas were staring at him, and that he hadn't answered Kakashi-sensei's question. He lowered his head so that his forehead protector shadowed his eyes. He didn't want Kakashi to see him like this, to see him show weakness.

But it hurt. It hurt giving up on the hope that Kakashi-sensei was ever going to see him as an equal to Sasuke-teme. But he had a chance at a sensei that would _see_ him, was willing to help him. Even if it didn't work out, he had to take the risk. Besides, he still had to get better to take on that bastard Neji and get revenge on him for what he did to Hinata. Sure she was weird and always seemed to have a fever, but there was no way she could ever have deserved what Neji did to her.

"I said fine. I'll allow him train me. But I'm dead tired, so I'm gonna go home and rest for a while." He shifted his head, which was still pointed downwards hiding his expression, over to Ebisu. The guy did say he would treat him… "Closet pervert, meet me at Ichiraku's at seven, okay? I'm takin' you up on that offer." And without even waiting for a response, he started walking down the hallway towards the hospital entrance.

It was 4 o'clock now, so he had plenty of time to get away from everyone and let out his emotions. He didn't know what he would do if someone from the Rookie Nine managed to catch him as an emotional wreck. He already had no credibility among his peers, even though he had done so much more than any of them. If one of them managed to catch him crying alone in one of the training fields, he knew practically any chance at being recognized as something other than an idiot and a failure would be completely destroyed.

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Ebisu and Kakashi both watched in silence as Naruto walked away from them. Each of them was immersed in their own thoughts pertaining to the blonde-haired loudmouth. It was just very disturbing that he hadn't _acted_ like a loudmouth at the last part of the conversation. And neither of the older ninja was entirely sure what to make of it.

Ebisu watched the orange clad boy turn the corner to the lobby with an expression of confusion and curiosity. He knew something important had just happened, and he knew for a fact that the way the boy was walking showed no signs of exhaustion. The brat had actually looked more tense than anything else, like he was anxious about something.

Ebisu silently made up his mind to follow the demon vessel and figure out what was really going on here. Because there was something that he had missed, something he hadn't been told. And if he was to train that boy right, he needed to know what was going through the little punk's head. Naruto was his for this month, and he would never allow it to be said that Ebisu, Elite Personal Teacher, had ever produced an idiot. So by the time this month was over, Naruto would no longer be an idiot if he had anything to say about it. And Ebisu would have had a _lot_ to say.

Kakashi, while his face still showed that same bored look it always did, was experiencing mixed feelings, all of which laying somewhere between guilt and regret.

He knew why the boy was upset, it was understandable. Naruto had asked for training and he had been turned away. It was… distressing though, to have seen Naruto act like that. He had never been like that before, he would normally yell and argue and then pout once he realized he wouldn't get what he wanted. Hmm, maybe Naruto was finally starting to grow up and take his advice seriously.

That thought still didn't smother the small lead ball in his stomach for blowing off Naruto. Kakashi really did want to help him, he would need it if he was going to stand a chance against Neji. It was why he had asked the other jounin in the lounge at the tower for someone to help train Naruto while he was helping Sasuke. Surprisingly, Ebisu had practically jumped at the chance.

Everyone in the room had been shocked. Either at Kakashi for handing over one of his students to someone else for something as important as the Chuunin Exams, which did not make him feel any better about what he was doing, or they were shocked that Ebisu was the first to agree. The man had said for years that the boy was worthless, that the blonde slacked off when he should have trained and that the Kyuubi was responsible for twisting the poor child's mind into that of a prankster since the boy was too weak to ever actually injure or kill anyone.

Kakashi had waited to see if anyone else was willing to train the boy, since he had indeed been suspicious of Ebisu. No one else had volunteered. Once he and Ebisu left the jounin lounge, Kakashi had questioned the elite teacher about why he was willing to take on Naruto.

Ebisu had responded with an answer of "I have seen something that I don't think many have." The sunglasses wearing man had refused to say any more on the subject, and Kakashi simply observed him to make sure this wasn't a trick to get his blonde student either killed or permanently injured. But Ebisu seemed sincere in wanting to train Naruto, and Kakashi was still wondering what the hell the special-jounin had been talking about.

The Copy-nin resolved to ask Naruto about it and about his actions today, once he and Sasuke got back from their little training trip. Still, he wondered exactly how much Naruto would grow without him, he wanted to see if Naruto was really worth the effort he had already put into him… okay so he hadn't put in that much effort, but he still helped out the boy quite a lot... on a regular basis… occasionally…. Ah, maybe he should have put a bit more effort into helping the blonde, but the overactive genin probably wouldn't learn even if he had.

But at the moment this training excursion with Sasuke needed to be done.

Sasuke needed this training, for so many reasons. He was going against Gaara of the Desert, the boy who had killed over a dozen people in the second exam and would kill Sasuke too without hesitation, if the reports were to be believed. Kakashi owed it to the raven haired boy as his jounin-sensei to at least make him ready so that he would survive his match.

Secondly, if Orochimaru did in fact make an offer to Sasuke for power, he needed to be shown that he could become powerful enough to kill his brother while staying in the Hidden Leaf. Then there was the fact that he owed it to Obito, rest his soul, to help his last living relative. The final reason, however much he didn't want to admit it, was that the Council of Elders was fully expecting the last Uchiha to be ready to become a chuunin by the time the third exam rolled around in a month. And the Council was expecting the silver haired Copy-nin to deliver, or it was his reputation straight down the drain.

A separate reason, though he would never admit it to Naruto or to anyone else for that matter, was that he believed Naruto was simply not ready to become a chuunin. He was too loud, too rash, and he didn't have the raw talent to survive if he was to go on difficult solo missions. He knew it was a cheap shot to undermine his blonde pupil's development, but if losing in the Chuunin Exams would keep Naruto alive and out of the way of others until he was ready to learn how to become a proper ninja, then the Copy-nin was going to do it. Naruto still needed to mature a bit more, and perhaps losing in the exam would make the blonde more receptive to his teachings. Kakashi knew this would be would be for the best.

'_I'm sorry Naruto, but you'll get much stronger this way. And once the exams are over I'll have plenty of time to make it up to you. I promise you that.'_

"Well then, Ebisu-sensei, please take care of him. Oh, and like I said before, it's his basics that need the most work. They really are a mess." With that said, Kakashi turned around and began walking back toward Sasuke's room. He needed to find a medic-nin or a nurse that knew when his unconscious student was going to wake up.

Ebisu still remained standing in the hallway, thinking over Kakashi's parting words and Naruto's actions during the conversation earlier.

With a start, he pieced the two together. Or at least he thought they were together, he really hoped they weren't though. He finally turned into the same hall that Naruto had left down not long ago and started walking. He needed to find the boy and check if his assumption was correct or not. As he walked toward the hospital entrance though, he truly hoped that Kakashi didn't speak like that about Naruto's skills in front of the boy himself.

'_Kakashi-kun, if you just messed up your relationship with this boy, I'm not going to fix it.' _

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Kakashi-sensei didn't care.

As soon as he was outside the hospital doors, Naruto pushed chakra into his legs and made a straight leap to the roof tops a good forty feet away on the far side of the street. He had to get away from here. He had to get away from everyone and just be alone. He couldn't let people see him if he wasn't smiling, and he definitely couldn't let people see him crying. He felt his eyes sting as one thought kept running through his mind.

Kakashi-sensei didn't care.

He ran and jumped over the many houses and stores and streets until he made it to the training grounds on the far side of the village, the entire time barely keeping the salty droplets from leaving his eyes.

Kakashi-sensei didn't care.

Naruto made it to one of the old meadows and just kept running, even though no one was around. He reached a slope in the meadow and started running up the small hill, with his eyes burning and tears now freely falling. His vision blurry, he didn't notice the stone jutting up from the ground. The next thing Naruto knew he was face first in the grass and earth, with his whole body stretched out and trembling.

Kakashi-sensei didn't care.

Naruto resolved to stay there like that, just laying in the dirt and crying to his heart's content. He didn't even care if he missed out on free ramen from the closet pervert. What did it matter? Kakashi-sensei would never want to teach him, he made that clear today. Kakashi's approval meant more to him than anything, and with heartbreaking acceptance, he realized he would never have that approval.

Because Kakashi-sensei didn't care.

He never had. He couldn't have. Not when he always gave Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan advice and training and he was left there to try to overhear and learn as best he could. Kakashi-sensei only told him what he was doing wrong, and never said how to fix it. While that was a far cry from what happened at the academy, where he was openly mocked and hated and the teachers tried to make him fail, it wasn't what a jounin-sensei was supposed to do. It couldn't be. Because if that was how it was even if he passed this Exam and became a chuunin, he would probably die on his first mission.

Kakashi-sensei didn't care.

But why? Why didn't Kakashi-sensei care? He always tried his hardest, and even though he didn't have the Sharingan, and even though he wasn't a genius at chakra control, he had some skill and he had plenty of determination. That was worth something wasn't it? Didn't that guy with the green spandex and big eyebrows say so? That a genius of hard work was better than a normal genius?

But then why?

Kakashi-sensei had told him that they were a good team. Kakashi had said that he cared about his comrades. That's what he and Naruto were right? They were comrades, teacher and student yes, but they were still comrades. So why didn't Kakashi care?! He was a part of the team. He was part of team 7…

So why didn't Kakashi-sensei ever give him that proud look he always seemed to give to Sasuke-teme. That was all he wanted, it could have been a fake a look of pride even, he just wanted to think that he was doing something right for once. He just wanted to be congratulated, just once would be fine, just to be told that he was doing something how it was supposed to be done. So that Kakashi-sensei would just look at him and say "good job, Naruto".

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't notice a small rustle in the grass not far away.

Unbidden, thoughts of all his sensei's words over the several months of team 7's existence sprang to mind.

'_You're slow, Naruto.'_

'_Ignore the guy with the lowest scores.'_

'_I didn't expect you to freeze up like that, Naruto.'_

'_Aren't you a little weird compared to the rest?'_

'_Naruto, pay attention, and you might actually learn something.'_

'_It looks like the best at controlling chakra right now is Sakura.'_

'_Your movements are too wasteful.'_

'_Congratulations on awakening your Sharingan, Sasuke.'_

'_Naruto, you need to work on your chakra control.'_

'_Well, Naruto, you did the worst out of all three, so you get tied to the log.'_

'_Those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more.'_

'_Don't fall for an obvious trap, idiot.'_

Every memory that he had, every time that Kakashi didn't help him, every time that Sakura-chan punched him, and every time that Sasuke-teme upstaged him replayed like a broken record through his head. By now the tears had stopped, but he was no less saddened or upset.

Abruptly he pulled himself to his feet and just yelled to the sky, giving all his anger, sadness, and frustration a physical voice. He pulled off his forehead and smashed it to the ground. He tore off his equipment pouch and threw it down the hill.

"If you wanted me to quit as a ninja why didn't you just say so Kakashi-sensei! If you didn't want me on your team you should have just FUCKING SAID IT!"

After his outburst his voice took on a softer tone, one that most everyone who knew him would say wasn't possible for the 'loudmouth dead-last' to make.

"It would have been easier that way. I'm used to that kind of thing. I could have handled that. I would have known you thought of me as a failure. You didn't need to make me think you would be proud of me." Naruto simply fell over onto his side so he was facing down the hill. His face took on a deadened expression, with his lips slightly parted and his eyes half lidded and devoid of their usual spark. "It would have been easier…" he whispered.

"I thought you said there was no easy way to become Hokage."

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First of all, I'd like to say thank you to ACTION NARUTO LOVER, LbcLostKid, crusnik, and mangalover248 for reviewing. And to answer Lostkid's question, the seal on Naruto's back that was mentioned in the prologue will be explained later on.

I hope you guys enjoyed the first real chapter, and I'm almost done on the next. Just a warning to you all though, my inspiration comes and goes at random, so I don't know how often I'll be updating on a regular basis.

Anyways, I hope I didn't make Kakashi too much of a jerk, but I tried to make it so that he had reasons for abandoning Naruto. Sakura, I honestly don't know what he was thinking when it came to leaving her behind. So I just left her out, implying that he didn't care since she wasn't in the third exam.

To any of you that are wondering about Ebisu, yes, he will be a pretty important character in the story, at least right now. This whole story is based off of an idea about what Naruto's heritage _could_ be, and what _could_ have happened if he accepted Ebisu's training willingly. I may be OOC when it comes to Ebisu, but then again, he's an extremely underdeveloped character, and no one really knows what he's like except that he dislikes open acts of perversion and he believes he has an image to maintain (mainly proving to others that he's not a pervert and that he is a great teacher).

I have a few other ideas in my head that I'll write down in the A.N. next chapter, and I'd like opinions on if I should start writing those stories as well. But that's next chapter, so…

One last thing. When you guys review, say which girl you want Naruto paired up with. The choices are any girl in or around his age group, so no Anko, Tsunade, Shizune, or Kurenai, or any others that I'm not thinking of right now. I've got certain situations and plot developments that will promote a relationship for each of the girls, I just need help to pick which girl, hehe. The list of eligible Bachelorettes are…

Ayame the Ramen Girl

Hanabi. Hinata's younger sister, I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep her as a potential pairing, if I do chose her, it will be in the far future

Hinata the Hyuuga Heiress

Ino the… ahem, well… I dunno. Moving on…

Karin. Yes, _that_ Karin, the Sasuke fangirl of team Snake

Kin of the Hidden Sound…will not be included unless there's a large amount of people wanting the pairing. Sorry, but there are plans for her and they do not involve Naruto.

Sakura the Queen of the Sasuke Fan Club.

Tayuya of the Northern Gate

Temari of the Sand Siblings

Tenten the Weapons Mistress

Yuugito the Container of the Nekomata. She's a little older than I might like, but hey, they never actually say how old she is, and I think she and Naruto might connect considering their common past and demonic counterparts.

And I think that's it. So read and review and let me know how to improve. Thanks much.


	3. Death of the Old

Chapter 2: Death of the Old

"I thought you said there was no easy way to become Hokage."

Naruto froze. He didn't blink, he didn't twitch, he didn't even breathe. He didn't even really register the words that had been said, only that there _were_ words said, and that someone was here.

Oh no. Someone was here, someone had seen him, someone was going to make fun of him. He would spread it around the village and he would be laughed at in addition to the usual fear and hatred he was given.

He was ruined. The Rookie Nine would find out, and then they would have even more reason to call him a loser than just his poor academy record. Why, why couldn't he get a break? Did the gods themselves hate him too?

"Naruto-kun, why don't you sit over here and tell me what's really going on."

Those words Naruto registered. But it didn't make any sense. Why wasn't the guy laughing at him, why wasn't he mocking him for his weakness? After a few moments, Naruto placed the voice. It was… but why was he…

"Closet pervert, w-what are you doing here?" Naruto asked nervously as he slowly sat up straight, but refused to look at the man standing several feet behind him.

Ebisu, though silently upset at still being called a pervert, knew he needed to tread carefully. He understood the basis of what the boy was going through, and he knew he could either destroy the genin's last bit of self worth, or rebuild the boy. He understood that the orphan felt he was being abandoned by his own sensei, and Ebisu couldn't help but mentally call Kakashi a bastard.

"I am here because I noticed you were acting strangely, and I am here because I look after and care for my students." There. There was no way that could make the boy any more distressed. It would give the boy some semblance of self importance. If Kakashi would not recognize Naruto as a good student, then he would. His thoughts ended however, when Naruto's shoulders started shaking with silent sobs.

"Wh… why aren't I Kakashi-sensei's student though. Why doesn't he care?" Naruto pulled his knees to his chest as more tears spilled down his cheeks. Ebisu's words, instead of being comforting, only reminded Naruto of what he wanted from Kakashi and would probably never have. The young blonde didn't even care if Ebisu saw him cry anymore, the man had seen his outburst earlier, and he simply could not bring up the strength to hide his emotions.

'_Dammit. I'll have to try another route, then. Convince him that not everyone is going to abandon him'_ Ebisu thought. Ebisu knew if the boy continued on like this, he would only end up hurting himself and the few people that called themselves Naruto's friends. The blonde boy would believe everyone would desert him as his sensei had, and he would not make the effort to reach out to people anymore.

Again Ebisu silently cursed the Copy-nin. The man was either a fool or an idiot to have not seen something like this coming, or Naruto had hidden his thoughts and feelings incredibly well. Putting thoughts of the silver haired man aside, Ebisu knew he needed to find a way to keep the boy from truly giving up. He needed a good argument, and he needed to think of one fast. So, first things first, he needed to stall for a few minutes while he thought up a good way to convince the blonde.

"Naruto-kun, do you mind if I sit here?"

Naruto didn't move from his curled up position, but there was a slight turn in his head in the direction of Ebisu, as if he was having trouble understanding the question.

"Whatever." His voice sounded dead and dull, and Ebisu was beyond glad that Konohamaru wasn't here. The young boy wouldn't know what to make of this side of Naruto. This was the side of Naruto that had lived through far too much already. The side that knew things about the world, about life, about cruelty, that a normal thirteen year old boy- that _no one_ should ever be forced to know.

As Ebisu sat down just a few feet away from Naruto, with his right leg stretched out and his left curled up with his arms resting on it, he searched frantically through his mind to try and find different way to argue with Naruto. What could appeal to the boy, what examples could he use, where the hell should he start?!

'_Ok, calm down, think, what would the boy connect to most? There's his love for ramen, I can't really use that. His determination, which Kakashi accidentally destroyed so that can't be used at the moment, and he wants to be Hokage…Hokage. Perfect.'_ In a manner of seconds Ebisu remembered the reason why Naruto wanted to be the Hokage: to be recognized, to prove to people that he wasn't the Kyuubi, to show all those who called him a failure how wrong they were. Within another ten seconds, Ebisu had made an argument and counterpoints to most of the subjects this talk was going to bring up. He mentally patted himself on the back, he was not called an Elite Personal Teacher for nothing.

"Naruto-kun, are you really going to give up? Give up now? After everything you have done to get here?" Ebisu asked the question gently, he didn't want Naruto to close off and shut everything and everyone out. Even still, Naruto stiffened at the questioned and it was a good minute before he replied.

"I don't want to, but what's the point if people I want to acknowledge me never will. Why keep doing this if no matter what I'm still hated, or called a failure." He paused before continuing at a faster pace, letting his doubts about the path he had chosen be known. "Or what if they don't like how I got there, what if they say it was luck, what if they say it was the Kyuubi and not me. What if the people I want to acknowledge me never will, or-or… what if they start to see me as the Kyuubi if I do become a good ninja." By the time Naruto was done talking his shoulders were shaking, but the words had been said and he would be lying if he said it didn't feel somewhat good to be able to confide in someone.

Ebisu, on the other hand, was slightly dreading what he was going to say. It would be hard for the boy to accept, but he would have to accept it all the same.

"I will not lie to you, Naruto-kun. There will always be people that are like that." At this the boy turned to Ebisu with a look of shock and fear, but Ebisu did not stop talking. "There will be people that you cannot change how they see you. But there are also those who will change themselves and others, and there are those you can change. There are people that want to change but fear what is new to them, and so they won't change at all. There are many types of people out there Naruto-kun. So tell me this. Will you give up on everyone because of a few, or will you accept that you cannot do everything, but simply what you can?"

At this, Naruto was silent. He was stunned. He just stared, with his bright blue eyes looking at the special-jounin as if he had just said the very meaning of life itself. For Naruto, Ebisu practically _had_ said the meaning of life. Everything Naruto had done had been so that would be recognized, or liked, or simply _seen_ by people. Then this closet pervert came along and summed up his existence in a couple of sentences and told him the truth about his goals.

He couldn't always win people over, but that didn't mean he would always lose either. Naruto sat there, thinking over what the older man had said. It made sense, but he wanted everyone to accept him. He wanted to prove to everyone that he wasn't a failure or a dead-last or the Kyuubi. But part of what the older ninja had said was true, Naruto thought. _'There are only a few people I want to really acknowledge me, I stopped caring what the villagers thought a long time ago.'_

The blonde fox vessel sat there in silence, with this new knowledge milling about in his mind. Ebisu was simply sitting next to him, looking out over the field as he waited for

Naruto to ask another question. And sure enough, within a few minutes of Naruto reflecting on Ebisu's words, the inevitable question came.

"What…What about the people…who I want to acknowledge me? What about Kakashi-sensei? Do I have to give up on him?" Naruto felt it was almost pointless to ask, but he had to know. He had to know if he was right in giving up on Kakashi-sensei ever acknowledging him a good ninja and a good student. He knew that Ebisu would probably say that he should give up on the silver haired man, but there was still a hope that maybe, just maybe, Kakashi would come around someday.

Ebisu of course, had been prepared for the question, and he knew that he had Naruto's full attention. It was odd, actually, to have the boy that had supposedly _never_ paid attention at the academy be so focused on his words. If only Konohamaru paid attention like this all the time.

But those were thoughts for another time, Naruto's question was still there and it needed to be answered. The special jounin spoke slowly and clearly, making sure that Naruto fully heard what he had to say.

"Naruto-kun, like I said before, there will be those that never see you for who you are. Some are blinded by misconceptions, as I was, or they are simply ignorant, and do not want to see the truth about you, so that they have someone to hate and blame for their troubles. Now, can you tell me, which group do you think Kakashi-kun falls in?" As Ebisu finished he looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, his rimless sunglasses hiding a calculating glint. The question was a setup, to see if Naruto could understand the fact that not all people could be put into clear categories, which the older man was sure Naruto was attempting to do with people he knew. He could tell that Naruto had been mentally putting his friends and acquaintances into two groups, a group that would accept him in time, and those that wouldn't. But Naruto needed to learn that he couldn't just label people like that.

Naruto eyes were squinted, as he thought it over "I… I… guess… I guess he doesn't go in either." Naruto said, and Ebisu couldn't help but let a small smile force its way onto his face. Oblivious to the smile, Naruto continued, still looking down across the training field. "I mean, he just doesn't care, right? So, should I give up on him, or do I keep trying to make him acknowledge me? I asked you before and you avoided the question, ya know." As he finished his answer, Naruto turned his head to look directly at the dark clad teacher.

Ebisu himself was taken aback as he looked into Naruto's eyes. The hollow and dead look was gone, replaced with a penetrating cerulean stare that seemed as if it was piercing his very soul. Suddenly, a memory from his younger days surfaced in Ebisu's mind. It was a memory of a different blonde with those same piercing blue eyes, those same aquamarine orbs that just gave the feeling of having all your sins and misdeeds laid bare.

They were the eyes of the Fourth Hokage.

Ebisu almost forgot about answering Naruto as he made the connection. There was simply no way this boy could be related to Fourth, there was no way. But the eyes were the same, there was no denying that, and Ebisu shifted uncomfortably as that thought wormed its way into his mind. He would think about it later and try to discover if there really was a connection between the boy and the Fourth besides just the Kyuubi. Right now, he was going to convince Naruto that what he had in mind for the coming month would be for the best.

"Naruto, I have an idea about that. Would you like to hear it?" Ebisu had laid the bait, and now all Naruto had to do was take it, and sure enough…

Naruto nodded and said "Ya sure, but you avoided the question. Again." Hook, line, and sinker.

Now was the time for the final piece. "Kakashi-kun, I believe, is not blinded by hate, nor does he hate you in any way, but I think he does have a narrow mind. Geniuses tend to, did you know that, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head, he'd never been told being a genius had a downside. People were always talking about how great prodigies were, how superior they were to everyone, he had never even thought that being a genius could be a bad thing.

"You see, Naruto-kun, when a 'genius' believes something, he never changes that belief, unless another 'genius' tells them otherwise. They are too proud to admit they were wrong, even if it's obvious. Or they simply find reasons to excuse themselves for being wrong. Take Kakashi-kun and yourself for instance. He probably labeled you as someone with no talent because of your record at the academy. And despite the fact that you can perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu on a level rivaling the Hokage, he probably thinks it's just the Kyuubi's chakra helping you, and so he believes his first assumption is still correct-"

Naruto cut him off before Ebisu could continue. "Hey, that's not the Kyuubi, its all me! I know when I'm using the Kyuubi, it was like on the bridge when I-" Naruto stopped talking suddenly and flinched. He didn't want to be reminded of that fight, of Haku. Haku was the only other person who could seem to understand him, to understand true loneliness. And he certainly didn't want to remember Haku's death at the hands of Kakashi.

Ebisu picked up on Naruto's sudden change in expression, he had gone from outrage at being told he was only good because of the demon, to sullen and withdrawn in a matter of seconds. He made a mental note to ask him later, but now he had a different point to make to Naruto.

"Regardless, he most likely thinks that. And so he still believes you are not talented even though you have proven otherwise to anyone who bothers to look. So, I am proposing that you show Kakashi-kun that he was wrong. I want you to show everyone how wrong they were, when you beat Neji Hyuuga _with ease_ one month from now. Because I am going to do what Kakashi-kun should have been doing. I am going to train you to be a shinobi, and I am going to do it right. Now I know you didn't want me to train you, but will you accept my help Naruto-kun?" Ebisu took a deep calming breath and turned his head to look at Naruto's reaction, only to find himself locked in those same incredibly blue eyes.

Naruto himself had the stereotypical look of shock plastered onto his face, clearly visible for the older man to see. His eyes were wide open to the point where Ebisu could see the red edges, his mouth was agape, and it looked as though the blonde had actually stopped breathing.

"Are- are you seriously gonna help me beat him?" As soon as the question left Naruto's mouth, he felt like an idiot. Of course the closet pervert would help him, that's why the man was out here wasn't it? But still, the truth remained: If Ebisu helped him train, it would be the first time he ever really got one on one help. Sure Iruka-sensei helped him when he could, but the chuunin didn't have the same grasp of advanced concepts and abilities as a real jounin. With Kakashi, well, perhaps the less said the better.

But this whole situation, this entire conversation, Naruto would never have thought in a million years that something like this could be happening. He had accepted that he would be forced to improve on his own, and even if it took much longer to become Hokage, he was willing to work hard and not give up. But now…now…now he had help. He had someone who would tell him how to improve, to teach him new jutsus, to show him a real taijutsu style.

Oblivious to Naruto's inner ramblings, Ebisu simply tilted his head and said, "Of course I'm serious. And to be honest I think if you work hard enough these next few weeks and follow my orders and instructions, that you will not only defeat Neji Hyuuga, but you will become a chuunin." Ebisu stared intently at the boy. He was going back to his normal happy go lucky attitude, or at least what he thought a normal Naruto was like. He really didn't know if the blonde actually was that happy all the time, or if the somber and serious Naruto was the real one. Well, he'd have plenty of time to discover the enigma that was Naruto Uzumaki over the next four weeks.

Ebisu stood up suddenly and looked down at Naruto as he asked "So Naruto-kun, do you accept my training and me as your sensei?"

Naruto also stood and said, a little too loudly to be natural in Ebisu's opinion, "Hell yea I do!"

Ebisu simply stood where he was and continued looking down at the short boy. He had to make sure Naruto understood what he was in for. Because he, Ebisu the Elite Personal Teacher, was going to destroy the last several months of whatever Kakashi had taught the fox vessel and remake him into a proper ninja. "Naruto-kun, this month will be difficult and my training will most likely make you into a new person, a new ninja. Do you understand that?" he asked.

Naruto, surprisingly noticing the shift in mood, answered seriously "Yes."

"I am going to break you, Naruto-kun, and remake you into a shinobi. I will turn you into an adult and a killer, for that is what a shinobi is. Are you ready for that?"

At this Naruto audibly gulped, but stood his ground "Yes,"

"Will you do exactly as I say, when I say it? Will you follow my orders and my advice? Will you _kill_ when I tell you to? Will you fight the battles you know you can win and avoid those you can't? Will you listen to your mind and not just your heart when in combat? These are all things I _will_ put you through this month Naruto-kun. Are you willing to do that?"

Naruto stood stock still for a moment, and Ebisu thought for a split-second that maybe he had pushed too far and the boy would back out. But then Naruto raised his head and looked straight into the special-jounin's sunglasses and said, without trembling or quivering or pausing "Yes. I'm ready. Believe it."

Ebisu saw the determination in the orange clad orphan's electric blue eyes, and a smile unconsciously found its way onto his face. Ebisu nodded and turned away, so that he was facing the direction of the village proper. He rested his hands on his hips and stretched out his back as he spoke. "Now Naruto-kun, we start tomorrow, but I am going to go and read the reports about you and your missions, and then you and I are going to meet at…Ichiraku's was it?" At Naruto's nod, he continued "at seven this evening to discuss what has happened in the Chuunin Exams so far and to talk about your new training schedule. Oh, and just one more thing Naruto-kun."

"What is it?" Naruto questioned.

Ebisu took a small glance out of the corner of his eye towards Naruto and said, "There will be no unnecessary smiles or loudness during these four weeks. And you are to cease your crush on that Haruno girl and avoid ramen as much as possible. Is that understood?"

Naruto froze. No… no… no that was not understood! If he wasn't smiling, people would ask what was wrong. If he wasn't smiling people would question him. If he wasn't smiling people would wonder, and then they would find out, and then they would _know_. And the worst thing, if he wasn't smiling people would pity him. This didn't make any sense damn it! Why would Ebisu-sensei demand something like this? Not to mention the stuff with Sakura-chan and ramen, what the hell? There was no point in making him do something this-this unnatural!

Naruto hesitantly asked, "W-wh-why?" Ebisu noticed the young boy's voice was shaky and hoarse, as if just talking was difficult after being told he wouldn't be allowed to wear that damnable smile and idiot-mask to protect himself. This only proved to the blue clad special-jounin that he was right in forcing Naruto to do this.

"Because Naruto-kun, who do you want people to acknowledge, _you_ or what they _think_ is you? It is not healthy for you to hide what you are feeling all the time. If you keep things inside of you, you might explode at someone one day, someone that you didn't want to hurt or yell at. And you might not be able to take back what you did or make it right. Not to mention if you fake your emotions, how do you think people will react if they think you're lying to them?" Each one of Ebisu's reasons struck a chord in Naruto. Was he really doing that to people? Was he lying to them by always smiling? Did the few people he could truly call friends care about him, or did they just like his mask?

Naruto tilted his head down and started shaking it from side to side quickly, as if trying to dislodge the very thoughts from his head. Despite this the thoughts remained, and he knew the older man was right. He didn't want friends who only saw a smile and a cheery attitude, but… how many friends might he lose if he stopped smiling? Would everyone leave him and -No! He couldn't think like that. If people didn't accept him without a smile on, then… then… then they weren't worth being friends with. Yeah. If they didn't like the real him, they didn't have to.

Besides, he was Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage, he had gotten this far by himself, and he could go further if he needed to. Once he became Hokage, they'd all regret not liking the real him anyway, so ha!

But then what about Sakura-chan and his precious ramen? Well, he supposed the closet pervert seemed to know what he was doing, and the advice about his smile was pretty damn good. Naruto himself had never thought of what he was doing in that way before, so maybe the pervert knew what he was doing here as well. Either way, he was going to accept the order for now, and find out the _why_ tonight over ramen.

Naruto inwardly gasped, if he was going to be forced to avoid ramen, he needed to make sure to make tonight count. It might be his last time for a while. But… but… this was how things would be he supposed. With a deep breath Naruto steeled his resolve and accepted the closet pervert's orders.

The boy spoke in a voice that revealed all of his determination and confidence, and nothing but a small and _genuine_ smile on his face, Naruto answered "Yes, I understand."

Ebisu nodded once more and made half a hand seal before saying his farewell "Then I will see you this evening Naruto-kun. Just be ready."

A swirl of leaves later, Naruto was standing alone in the field again.

"I need to learn how to do that."

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2 Hours Later, Ebisu's Apartment

"This is almost a total waste of paper. These mission reports don't say anything about Naruto-kun's skills."

With a groan of frustration, Ebisu haphazardly tossed the documents and manila folder onto his coffee table, which was littered with many more reports and files, as he slouched back into his sofa.

There was nothing. _Nothing_. Not a single thing in all the files and reports about Naruto and the missions he had gone on could give him an accurate view of how good a ninja the orphan really was. The only thing that he had to go off was that apparently Naruto had fought a high chuunin level opponent to a standstill in Wave Country using the Kyuubi's chakra and that he used the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. A lot.

So he had to start from scratch. Okay, that wasn't that bad. It was just like a fresh academy student, only Naruto had some field experience and knew not to freeze up in a life and death situation. It was both excellent and horrible, in an odd way. On the one hand Naruto was perfect for him to recreate into a good and competent ninja, and on the other hand, the last several months of Kakashi's tutelage seemed to have been a complete waste of time.

He also had watched the recording of Naruto's preliminary match that had gone on earlier in the day. Naruto's use of shadow clones and transformations had been excellent spur of the moment planning, so they boy had some knowledge of tactics stuffed somewhere in his brain. It was probably being crushed between his obsessions with ramen and that Haruno girl. Hopefully this month would change that too. He was going to have a hell of time convincing the blonde to stop hounding his teammate for dates like a fan-boy. It was… demeaning.

But he was getting off topic. He had a completely fresh genin that he could mold into whatever he decided, and the boy would be completely willing to go into any skill set he taught. It was perfect, really, now that he thought about it. The boy was still young, he hadn't learned any proper usage of combat weapons, he knew only one worthwhile jutsu, and he didn't seem to have any preconceived notions about any taijutsu styles. The greatest part of all? He was willing to listen and learn.

Now, he just had to figure out what to teach the boy. He had to be careful in his selections. Ebisu wanted the blonde to maintain the skills he was going to be taught long after the Chuunin Exams were over. The special-jounin wanted the boy to keep what he would learn this month for his entire shinobi career. The skills he would teach during these four weeks had to fit the fox vessel perfectly, otherwise the boy would simply discard them after the Exams.

The special-jounin verbally went through a checklist of categories for Naruto. He didn't know why he did it, but talking out loud when thinking about things always seemed to make the subjects…easier.

"Hmm, first I'll need to get the boy to improve his chakra control. He can start off with learning to walk on water, and then to augmenting his muscles with chakra. Taijutsu… he's short, probably won't ever get to be very tall, but he'll be broad and powerful. Perhaps I can convince Gai to teach him the Strong Fist style? No, he would never teach one of Kakashi-kun's students something like that." Ebisu leaned forward from his sofa and rested his chin upon his closed fists, with his elbows resting on his knees.

"If he can improve his chakra control enough, possibly the Steel Palm style will work, that requires strength and powerful movements. He's too stocky for the Gentle Crane style, and too muscular and inflexible for the Snake style." As the elite teacher sorted through and eliminated the many styles that he knew of, he remembered a style that he had been once been on the receiving side of, and knew immediately that it would fit Naruto perfectly.

The Xinyi Quang style. Free-mind Boxing.

It had been used by an A-class missing-nin from Earth Country, and Ebisu had been on the squad that had happened to come across him during a routine patrol mission. He had been a chuunin at the time, with two jounins and another chuunin making up the rest of the team. The missing-nin had used nothing but the taijutsu style and only basic jutsus, but he had still killed one of the jounins and the other chuunin before he had been taken down.

The bandana wearing man shifted his right shoulder uncomfortably at the memory. The missing-nin had merely gotten in a single blow and it had shattered his right collar bone, his shoulder joint, and the top half of his humerus. Yes, Naruto would love that style. It also fit his current style, or rather his lack of one. The orange loving genin's taijutsu style was essentially that of a street brawler. Judging by the recording of the preliminary match, Naruto put everything into each of his punches and kicks, leaving himself open for a counterattack, similar to the Free-mind. Not to mention that Free-mind Boxing shouldn't be too difficult to for the genin to learn the forms and stances with his kage bunshins. It was just the massive amounts of strength put behind each blow that Naruto would be forced to learn via augmenting his muscles.

The Elite Personal Teacher wasn't quite sure why it was called Free-mind Boxing, but he guessed it had to do with disregarding morals, hesitation, and concern for the opponent when in combat. The style was designed to cause massive damage to put down the opponent… permanently.

"So, Free-mind Boxing it is, I know there's an in-depth instruction scroll in the Hokage archives for it. Now then, what weapons would fit him? Nunchaku would mesh with Xinyi Quang, but I doubt Naruto-kun would want to learn to use those. Possibly a katana or a jian, or a sword of some type. A scythe might also work, since it would extend his reach in combat. Then again, trench knives or a kerambit would be an even better complement to the style than nunchaku."

Oh well, he'd ask Naruto himself what kind of weapon he wanted to be trained in. Besides, the punk would need to enjoy using the weapon, so perhaps the best option would be to just let Naruto pick for himself. With those things out of the way, only one more area needed to be looked at.

Ninjutsu.

Naruto was essentially the perfect ninjutsu type ninja. He had massive chakra reserves and the ability to recover that chakra quickly due to the Kyuubi. The downside was that Naruto's chakra control was horrible, though he was slowly improving. Hopefully, the boy's chakra control would grow exponentially during this month. But what jutsus should he teach the ramen loving idiot? The boy was already excellent at using shadow clones and he could perform the Kawarimi no Jutsu, and he apparently went a cut above the rest and used the Kage Henge no Jutsu instead of the regular version taught at the academy. Ebisu had learned that first hand.

'_Damn that Harem Jutsu.'_

The difference between the normal Henge no Jutsu and shadow transformations were that shadow transformations actually changed the physical body, whereas as the standard jutsu taught at the academy was merely a genjutsu overlaying the user. Heh, the brat probably didn't even realize he was using a high chuunin level jutsu whenever he disguised himself.

But enough about that, what jutsus should the boy learn. Naruto had already shown himself to be adept at the use of other shadow jutsus so... "There's the Kunai Kage Bunshin and the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsus, Naruto will probably master each of those in a day, if he learns them as quickly as he did the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. He could be a ninjutsu powerhouse, so a few high powered fire jutsus would do nicely. Perhaps the Katon: Karyu Endan jutsu. I only know one raiton, and only one futon jutsu. And each of those requires massive amounts of chakra."

Ebisu sighed in defeat. Kakashi was the technique specialist of the Leaf. _He_ should have been the one teaching Naruto how to best use his massive amounts of chakra. Oh well, it didn't matter. Ebisu himself had large chakra reserves, so perhaps it was for the best that he be the one to teach the boy powerful jutsus. Heh… by the time Kakashi Hatake next saw his blonde student, he wouldn't recognize him or his skills.

Figuratively speaking, of course.

The special-jounin glanced at the clock and noticed it was about time to start going to the ramen stand. That was another thing he had to convince the boy of. Even though the blonde may have accepted his order about the fan-girl and ramen, he knew the boy was going to ask him about it. If Naruto ate nothing but ramen all the time, he wouldn't even grow past his already diminished natural height. He probably wouldn't grow up to be very tall as an adult anyway because of his malnourished childhood.

As for the Haruno girl… well like he said before, it was disgusting and demeaning for the young boy to fawn over a girl that had done nothing to deserve that kind of attention.

From what he could glean from the reports, the girl hated Naruto with a passion for no real reason, like most others of the boy's generation. The special-jounin hung his head slightly at that. It had taken him far too long to recognize the boy as anything more than a demon-vessel, and he could only hope that the young children would outgrow the lies their parents had fed them about Naruto. Lies that no one did anything to stop. He was truly ashamed of himself for allowing a young boy to be forced to live like that. Hopefully in these few weeks he could make it up to the boy somehow, someway.

As Ebisu stood up from his sofa and started making his way to the door of his apartment, he went through his plans for the self-proclaimed future Hokage: advanced chakra control exercises, learning a new style of taijutsu, weapons training, elemental manipulation, emotional control training, and finding a new outfit.

Thinking about that hideous orange jumpsuit Naruto normally wore, he shuddered, and he personally felt that getting rid of the horrible abomination of fashion would be the most difficult part of all. As for the rest, well…that was the beauty of shadow clones.

As Ebisu walked out of his home and locked the door behind him, he was happily picturing the Copy-nin's face when he would hear how the student he had ignored beat Neji Hyuuga into the ground. Oh, it would be priceless, even if the silver haired man's face was hidden all the time, he could imagine it all the same. He needed to remember to bring a camera to the day of the third exam. Not only to immortalize his new student when he became a chuunin, but to capture Kakashi's look when Naruto was promoted and the Uchiha wasn't.

And then as he turned around to head down the walkway to his apartment, he mentally slapped himself in the face. He had completely forgotten about it. As he stood on the pathway to his home, he looked directly across the village at the Hokage Monument, standing tall and proud as ever. His eyes came to rest on the carving of the Fourth Hokage, and perhaps the greatest Hokage of them all, even though he had only possessed the title for barely a year.

Naruto…just what connection did he have to the Fourth?

Their eyes were the same. There was no doubt, no second thoughts in Ebisu's mind, that the boy and the Fourth were connected by more than just the demon fox imprisoned in Naruto's navel. As Ebisu recalled looking at the old photographs and pictures of the Fourth Hokage, he was actually embarrassed to have not noticed it earlier. The resemblance was unreal, Naruto was practically a miniature Fourth. He wondered if anyone else had observed the similarities, or if everyone had been like him and simply not cared enough about the blonde orphan to notice.

As the sunglasses-wearing ninja turned away from the monument and began walking to Ichirakus, his mind was full of theories and ideas, some possible and others ridiculous.

Was the boy one of Orochimaru's experiments, a child implanted with the Fourth Hokage's DNA, and had been made solely in an attempt to recreate the Fourth's signature jutsus? It was a stretch, but possible. No one but the Third Hokage really knew all of the details about what Orochimaru had been working on before he was discovered as a traitor.

Or maybe the boy was perhaps a bastard child of the Fourth. No, that wasn't likely at all. The Fourth Hokage had loudly stressed that family was an important aspect of a shinobi's lifestyle. For him to have had a fling and bore a child with… whoever, and then use the boy as a living sacrifice, it didn't fit the man he remembered. Then again…that might make sense, it would explain where he got the child from. And maybe Naruto wasn't a bastard child at all, maybe the Fourth used the boy _because_ Naruto was his son, and he wasn't willing to use another family's child to seal the demon. That made sense, but… then why didn't the Fourth Hokage just seal the fox into himself and destroy it forever. Why seal it into a boy that would be ostracized because of it? And if the Fourth was his father, then who was his mother? The only resemblance Naruto seemed to have to anyone was with the Fourth. It was possible that the boy just didn't inherit any dominant genes from his mother, but blonde hair and blue eyes were recessive so…

Argh, he wasn't going anywhere with this. _'I'll just ask the Third if he knows anything when I go pick up the Free-mind Boxing scroll.'_

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In stark contrast to his new sensei's mind wracking thoughts, Naruto's brain was devoted to something far less… taxing.

'_I've got a sensei. I've got a sensei. Nah nah nah nah nah nah! Nah nah nah nah nah nah! I've got a sensei, and he's gonna help me! Nah nah nah nah nah nah!'_

He was so involved with his new song, that he didn't even register the presence of his longtime crush of almost 5 years, Sakura Haruno. She of course saw him immediately and narrowed her eyes.

Great, just great, as soon as Naruto noticed her she would be forced to deal with him and his stupid habit of asking her out on a date. _As if_ she would ruin her chances of being with Sasuke-kun! If she even dared to go out with Naruto, the idiot would go and brag to Sasuke-kun and then her chance at true love would be gone forever. Her ebony haired husband-to-be would think she wasn't interested in him, and then he would go to Ino-pig, that tramp. No, she had to do everything she could to let true love prevail, and that meant she couldn't let Naruto interfere with her love life. Besides, once Naruto got it through his thick skull she wasn't interested in him, he would stop asking her out and she would stop rejecting him, and then he wouldn't get his feelings hurt. Not long after that she would get Sasuke-kun and everyone would be happy.

It all worked out in the end, if you thought about it.

Maybe one day the idiot would figure it out, but for now, oh well. She might as well get her daily routine with Naruto over with, so she could go back to check up on Sasuke-kun.

"Hello, Naruto." She said, and then frowned when she took notice of his mood. How _dare_ Naruto act happy like this while her precious Sasuke-kun was fighting for his life at the hospital! How dare Naruto be standing while poor Sasuke-kun was unconscious! It made no sense. Sasuke-kun was an Uchiha, he had the Sharingan, he was the best genin, and he was the rookie of the year, so why didn't Naruto even look tired after barely winning his match with dog breath today.

The pink haired girl herself was still sporting bruises and aches from both her fight with Ino-pig and the battle with the sound-nin, and to see Naruto up and about without even a limp or a bruise just made her angry. She was angry at him for acting like he was better than Sasuke-kun, which he so obviously wasn't, she was angry at herself for being too weak to beat her rival, and most of all she was angry that she wouldn't be able to impress her true love by fighting in the third exam.

Naruto, oblivious to the oncoming danger that was brewing, simply turned around and smiled that big foxy grin of his when he remembered the closet pervert's orders about smiling and being loud. Abruptly his smile disappeared, and Naruto was actually caught off guard by it. Not only was it disturbing as to how easy it was _not_ to smile at Sakura, he was kind of scared as to how his foxy smile had found its way onto his face without him even thinking. Had his mask become that much a part of himself? He suddenly had a new appreciation for Ebisu's advice.

"Hey Saku-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence as he recalled his new sensei's _other_ bit of advice.

'_Cease your crush on that Haruno girl.'_

"ra." He finished. His voice, though friendly and soft, was utterly disturbing to his pink haired teammate. For a moment Sakura's mind simply blanked, and not a single thought went through her head as she stared at Naruto.

And stared.

And blinked.

And stared.

Once her brain started working, she began thinking of reason's to explain why Naruto hadn't yelled or acted like the idiot he was. Her inner self was much more vocal in her opinion of what was going on. _**'That's not Naruto! Imposter! Cha!'**_

Sakura followed her alternate half's belief that this couldn't possibly be her teammate. Immediately she remembered the method of dispelling a genjutsu and brought her hands together in the familiar hand seal. With a small flare of chakra and muttering a quick "Kai!", Sakura closed her eyes and opened them again expecting to see something other than her blonde haired teammate.

Her expectations were disappointed.

Naruto was still standing in front of her, now with a confused expression on his sun kissed face. "Eh... Sakura, what are you doing?" His eyes were squinted, with mouth was drawn into a thin line, and his head was tilted to one side. However, he still wasn't shouting, and he hadn't called her by the chan suffix.

Sakura had to hand it to whoever this guy was, he was good at impersonating the dead-last, except the guy got all of his talking habits _completely_ wrong. But it wasn't a genjutsu, so what was she being affected by…oh, it had to be a henge. Whoever it was had themselves disguised as Naruto, and since nobody ever talked to the stupid dead-last the imposter didn't _need_ to know how Naruto talked. She was such a genius for figuring it out so fast.

And the only way the Sasuke fan-girl knew how to remove a henge was a good old fashioned beating to break the concentration of the jutsu. _**'Let's kick his ass! Hell Yeah!'**_ Inner Sakura yelled, throwing a flurry of punches upwards into the air.

Naruto was still lost in thought as to his crush's unusual actions, and the thought that _he_ was also acting unusual didn't even enter his head. He simply stared at the bubblegum haired girl of his dreams with his patented I-don't-get-it look, even as she lunged forward suddenly and…

**BAM. THUD.**

Naruto's side hit the ground a good five feet away from where he had been standing, with both his hands clutching his bleeding mouth and his body slightly curled into a fetal position. His eyes were wide open and staring straight at Sakura with a mixture of surprise and hurt. After a moment of allowing what had happened to register, Naruto hesitantly used his tongue to figure out the damage to his mouth. When he found that three of his front teeth were knocked out, that hurt turned to anger. When he heard the whispers and snickers from the surrounding villagers, that anger turned to rage.

What had he done to deserve that? All he had done was greet her. Hell, she was the one who started talking to him! And then she comes out of nowhere and punches him in the face. It wouldn't be an issue if he had been prepared for the punch like he usually was, then he would have been able to brace himself, and his teeth, with chakra. Months of being hit by his own teammate had forced him to learn to reinforce his body with chakra, with nothing to guide him but bitter experience. He silently thanked the healing powers the Kyuubi gave him, within twenty minutes his teeth would be back.

As he slowly stood up and turned so he was facing away from Sakura, who was completely shocked that the Naruto impersonator still hadn't released the henge, he gathered up the loose teeth in his mouth and discreetly spit them out at his feet. He then wiped the blood from his mouth with the cuff of his sleeve, which blended in remarkably well with the orange, and turned around to face Sakura with swollen, closed-mouthed lips.

"Hey, Sakura, what was that for?" The blonde tried to move his mouth as little as possible, so as not to reveal the damage she had unknowingly done. Even if she had punched him, she was still Sakura-chan and he still loved her regardless of everything she had ever done to him. And even if he wanted to, he just couldn't hate her, nor would he ever do something that would give the villagers a _real_ reason to hate him. So he swallowed his pain and anger and let it go, like he always did. The only difference this time was that he didn't plaster on that fake smile.

Sakura herself finally managed to figure out that the Naruto impersonator wasn't an impersonator at all, and that she actually had just punched her teammate in the face for no apparent reason. The emerald eyed girl averted her gaze from Naruto's swollen mouth, and tried to think of a way to apologize. However, Sakura hadn't apologized to anyone in years, as she had batted aside harsh words and actions to other girls as 'necessary to the success of true love'. Because of this, Sakura was largely unprepared and almost completely new to apologizing for her actions, especially to someone like _that_ Naruto. Sakura, feeling overwhelmed with being forced to say sorry because of something she did wrong, did what was expected in her situation. She lashed out.

"It's not like you didn't have it coming Naruto! Acting better than Sasuke-kun, walking around town like that. I bet you didn't even visit him in the hospital, huh?" Sakura felt slightly ashamed of herself, but decided that she would apologize to him tomorrow for the punch and for her words. _'Besides, he'll forget this whole thing happened in about ten minutes anyways. Like he always does.'_

What was most important now was getting Naruto's mind off the subject and onto something else, and Sasuke-kun just happened to pop into her head… like always.

Naruto, in a rare bout of brilliance, knew he needed to let the subject drop and answer her question, unless he wanted to give his crush a real reason to punch him. Still, even though she was Sakura-chan, and even though she held his heart, he couldn't help but feel his chest sting at her absolute refusal to apologize for hurting him.

"Yea, I was there this afternoon. I, eh, I talked to Kakashi-sens…" The orange clad genin stopped talking for a brief moment as the sensei suffix died on his lips. Kakashi… Kakashi wasn't really his sensei anymore was he? At least not right now. Or had he ever been? Naruto wasn't sure, but the title of sensei just didn't seem to fit Kakashi's name anymore, not after everything that had happened today. "Kakashi-san and he said he'd be training Sasuke-teme this month for the third exam. He left us to ourselves, hehehe." Naruto laughed weakly as he finished his sentence.

Just saying that left a foul taste in the fox vessel's mouth, but that just might have been the blood from where his new teeth were starting to grow in. He still couldn't believe that Kakashi had flat out refused to help him. And even if he learned a lot under Ebisu-sensei, it still hurt that Kakashi had ignored him like so many others. Sakura seemed ignorant to Naruto's discomfort, and while she noticed the change of title to their silver haired teacher, she didn't feel like asking Naruto why. Besides, the idiot had insulted the object of her affection… again.

"Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that, especially when he's not here to defend himself! You loser!" Immediately after the words left her mouth, the fan-girl inwardly flinched. Nothing she had done or said during the conversation seemed to come out how she wanted it to. First she punched Naruto, and then she called him a loser, even after he had beaten Kiba today in the preliminaries and proved he was stronger than she was. Sakura sighed slightly, she was going to have to do _something_ nice for Naruto to make up for all this… as long as it wasn't a date. Because there was just no way she would risk her chance with Sasuke-kun just to make Naruto feel better about himself.

"Look… just… what are you doing, shouldn't you be out training or something?" There, that would make Naruto talk about himself, and the loudmouth always loved to brag so maybe that would make up for the loser comment. Besides… she wanted to know what Naruto would be doing if Kakashi-sensei wasn't going to help him.

True to Sakura's guess, Naruto was about to go off on a loud rant about all the cool stuff he would no doubt be learning under the closet pervert. But just as he took in a breath to begin his speech, the blonde remembered he had to go and meet with Ebisu so he would actually _know_ what he was going to learn. He would have loved to ask Sakura out on a date, he might have even been able to get her on a guilt trip for punching him and force her to accept, but he wasn't that kind of guy _and_ he was running late from talking to her. Not to mention Ebisu-sensei had said to knock it off with his crush…

With a normal volume, which was still bothering Sakura, Naruto said "Actually, I'm going to meet a special-jounin at Ichiraku's who's helping me train. So…"

Sakura sighed, _'Here it comes. And I'll feel even worse when I reject him with all the stuff I did…'_

"I gotta go. I'll see ya around, Sakura." Having said that, Naruto spun on his heel and started walking towards Ichiraku's without even waiting for a response, since he figured that his female teammate wouldn't even bother to give him one.

Sakura was left standing in the middle of the street, with her eyes wide and her body motionless.

It shouldn't have bothered her. She had been trying to get Naruto to stop asking her out for _years_, and it finally seemed to happen. She should have been thrilled that Naruto had seemed to take the hint and stop involving himself in her life. So… so… why did it feel so wrong?

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Alright, chapter 2 is over and done with. I hope I didn't overdo it during the "Ebisu talking with Naruto" scene. I tried to make the characters true to themselves while making a bond between teacher and student, but I'm sorry if it came off as awkward or fake. Again, please read and review and tell me what you think and how I can become better. I personally think I need to include more dialogue, and I will try to in the future.

To be honest, I'm beyond surprised and amazed that I made the chapter this frickin' long, and I had originally planned it to include Naruto's conversation with Ebisu at Ichiraku's. But I got carried away with the other events.

Anyways, like I said last chapter I have some of my ideas for other stories, and I am considering writing them if I ever finish and/or abandon and/or postpone my work on this story. Just read the descriptions and then review if you you'd like to see me start working on a specific story.

**Birds of Clay **(Naruto/?)

When a 10 year old Naruto is beaten on his birthday, the stress and fear from the attack causes his latent bloodline to emerge. He wakes up in the hospital the next day discovering mouths on the palms of his hands! Sarutobi, knowing for a fact that the clan with that bloodline limit was all but wiped out when Earth Country began its own Bloodline Purge, seeks out the last surviving member with an offer to become a Leaf ninja and look after Naruto. The message finally finds its way to Deidara, recently forced to work for the Akastuki. What will Deidara do when a fellow member of his family is found, and how will Naruto react when he learns he has a true relative in the world?

**The Sound of a Better Future **(Naruto/Tayuya)

The evening after Naruto fails the Genin Exam the second time, Naruto does what all kids do when they get upset. He runs away… straight into Orochimaru. Seizing the opportunity to use the fox vessel for his own ends, Orochimaru takes Naruto to the Hidden Sound. What the snake summoner did not count on was Naruto managing to change his mindset. When he learns of Naruto's efforts to prove the people of the Leaf wrong about the boy being a failure and demon, Orochimaru decides to show the Leaf what they could have had if he had been placed as Hokage. Now, as the First Otokage of Rice Field Country, he leads the small nation into a new age. But what happens when Naruto and his genin team appear for the Chuunin Exams. How will his former friends react to the 'dead-last' being the most promising genin of a rival nation, a rival nation led by a man they see as a mass-murderer?

**The New Demon of the Mist **(Naruto/femHaku)

On the bridge in Wave Country Naruto did not stop his Kyuubi-powered punch at a female Haku, propelling the ice-user over the edge. Kakashi quickly kills Zabuza and, fearing that the seal is breaking, plunges a Chidori though Naruto's back and throws his blonde pupil off the bridge. Naruto and Haku survive, both feeling devoid of purpose, and decide to remain together to find a new reason for living. Before long an ANBU squad from the Hidden Mist finds them and informs them they are welcome in Water Country, where the leader of the Seven Swordsmen has finally succeeded in overthrowing the corrupt Mizukage. The same Mizukage that Zabuza failed to kill. Naruto, bearing the Kubikiri Houcho in honor of the fallen Zabuza, joins the ranks of the Mist ninja alongside Haku. Naruto finds a new purpose in living for Haku, and her for him. But when Naruto learns of the Third Hokage's death at the hands of Orochimaru, he knows he must return to the Leaf to pay respect to the old man. What will happen when the Rookie 8 sees their friend returned from the dead and wearing a Mist headband?

**Naruto of the Red Sand **(Naruto/Temari)

Chiyo takes a different approach with her grandson Sasori after his parents die. She manages to break through to him, and saves him from his depraved thoughts of immortality. He never joins Akatsuki, nor does he kill the Third Kazekage, who takes much more care when the time comes to seal Shukaku into Gaara. Years later during a diplomatic visit to Fire Country, Sasori sees a young blonde orphan on the same path he once was. With some nudging from his (questionably sane) grandmother, Sasori adopts Naruto and they return to Sand to train and raise Naruto with the promise that the boy will be loved and given a true home. When Naruto returns for the Chuunin Exams he is a puppet-user, and is mocked and hated by everyone in his former class for 'abandoning the Leaf'. How will Naruto fare when he has to deal with the outright scorn shown to him by his would-be comrades, and how will he prove to his old friends that he is not the dead-last they remember?

**Naruto of the Iron Sand **(Naruto/?)

When Gaara becomes the Fifth Kazekage during Naruto's 2 and a half year training journey, he comes across files from around the time the Third Kazekage disappeared 15 years before. He learns that the Third Kazekage's wife, who was secretly pregnant, went looking for her husband even after the search had been called off. Months after she left, it was reported she died in the Kyuubi's attack on the Hidden Leaf. The knowledge of her death was common, but when Gaara sees a picture of the Third Kazekage's wife, who was a beautiful woman with vibrant blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, he immediately sends out a team to find his fellow demon vessel. When Naruto arrives at Sand, what secrets from the past will be uncovered?

Okay then, for new reviewers please say what girl you want Naruto paired up with, I'll probably stop the poll around chapter 10 or so. The list of girls is in Chapter 1's A.N. Aside from that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and more will come soon.

Again, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed. Demonkid, Bulrog the god, LbcLostKid, ACTION NARUTO LOVER, mangalover248, stringer13, loli04, Allahee4life, S219, Metal Overlord92, Alcyone-blk, raziel44, Kai Dragoon, crusnik, silberstrief, and SurvivalHorror, you can all pat yourself on the back and go get yourself a cookie. Cus you deserve it.

Also, to answer silberstrief's question about the poll, I kinda lied about what I'm using it for. Ya see I am a very indecisive person, and while I have pretty much all of my ideas set until the Sasuke retrieval arc, I have no freaking idea where to take this story once I get past that arc. So, while I am using your input to determine who Naruto will ultimately be paired up with, I am also using it to determine which path my story will take. I have a different plotline for each girl in the poll. If say, Sakura wins the poll, the story after the time skip will be different than if Yuugito or someone else wins. And before anyone asks, no, I will not be telling anyone about the different plotlines after the time skip. Just vote and see where the story goes. The unknown is the spice of life!

Oh, and Allahee4life, sorry, but I won't be making the story a harem. And for keeping some names in English, that's for my own sanity as well. Cus it's really difficult for me to remember the Japanese translations for the villages and countries and titles and everything. But I will still be using Japanese names for a lot of things.

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Translations:

Katon: Karyu Endan – Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile

Kawarimi no Jutsu – Body Replacement Technique

Kage Henge no Jutsu – Shadow Transformation Technique

Henge no Jutsu – Transformation Technique

Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Kunai Shadow Clone Technique

Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique

Xinyi Quang – Free-mind Boxing


	4. A New Direction

Chapter 3: A New Direction

Ichiraku's Ramen Stand always seemed to calm Naruto. He wasn't sure if it was the delicious taste and aroma of the food, the nice conversations with the old man, or just the smiling face of Ayame. It was as if the moment he sat down on one of the stools all the troubles in the world seemed to just disappear, if only for a little while.

So when old man Ichiraku placed down a bowl of his new 'Seafood Special Ramen' for Naruto to taste test, he practically forgot all about the week's troubling events with Kakashi, Sakura, and everything about the Chuunin Exams. Naruto was about half way done with his bowl, since he always took his time with new flavors of ramen, and still waiting for the closet pervert to show up when the old man asked "So Naruto, word's been slow traveling around about the third exam. I wanna hear it from someone who was there. Aside from you, who's in the finals?"

At hearing that, Naruto smiled. It was not one of his large foxy grins that he showed to the world all the time, but a small and honest smile.

'_Heh, it's just like him to think I got into the third exam without even asking me first.'_

Old man Ichiraku always seemed to know what to say to make him feel better about anything, and the chef was better at reading him than even Hokage-ojisan. When it was just the three of them in the small restaurant, Naruto liked to think that this was what it would be like… to have a family. Where everyone would get together during a meal to talk about nothing and everything and just be there for each other. Yea, this was what having a family was supposed to be like, he just knew it.

Naruto slurped up the bit of noodles that were hanging out of his mouth and answered "Well there's me, Sasuke-teme, Neji Hyuuga, eh… and Shikamaru. I think that's it for the Leaf… oh wait, Shino's in the finals too." It was kind of sad, now that Naruto actually was thinking about it. Over a hundred Leaf ninja had started the Chuunin Exams, and only the five of them would even have a shot at becoming a chuunin.

Naruto took another mouthful of noodles as old man Ichiraku whistled in disbelief and asked another question.

"Geez, that's it? Well who's gonna be there from the other countries? Anybody well known or a good fighter? I'm thinking about going to the arena and closing the shop for the day if I know the matches are gonna be good."

Naruto thought about the opponents from the other villages, they were all crazy in one way or another. And he really wasn't looking forward to fighting that one guy, Gaara of the Desert. It was weird, every time Naruto saw or thought about the red-head from Sand he would suddenly get a feeling of… familiarity… or something. There was something about Gaara that Naruto could just _feel_. It was as if he had met the guy before somewhere. Eh, he'd think about it after he had finished his ramen.

"There's a team from Sand, and all of them got into the third exam." At this both Ayame's and Teuchi's eyes widened. It was almost unheard of for an entire team to make it into the third exam if there were preliminary matches held to cut down the participants. They were both civilians but they knew the difficulties of the Chuunin Exams, they lived in a ninja village after all. For all three to make it into the finals… those three genin were probably very good.

Oblivious to the others' reactions, Naruto continued talking while slurping at the broth. "One of them uses these weird sand jutsus. His teammate, make-up face, uses puppets. And the girl on their team uses a big fan to cut people. Then… there's this one-eyed hunchback from Hidden Sound. I think that's everyone who made it."

Teuchi Ichiraku narrowed his eyes as Naruto finished describing the other participants of the Chuunin Exams. That Sand team sounded really familiar. Teuchi had visited the Village of the Hidden Sand several months before, and distinctly remembered hearing about some monster of a ninja that used sand to kill anyone and everyone in his path. The elderly ramen chef had actually been told that the genin _was_ a monster. Of course he didn't believe such things, if he did then the blonde orphan sitting in front of him… well the boy _wouldn't_ be sitting in front of him. The weird thing was that it was supposedly the Fourth Kazekage's youngest son who was a monster….

At that thought the elderly ramen stopped tossing the noodles in mid-swing. His daughter instantly noticed and asked what was wrong, but he didn't even register her concerned words as he made the connection.

'_People think Naruto is a monster because the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi in him, and if people think the son of the Fourth Kazekage is a monster then…'_

No. No, no, there was no way a father would do something like that to his own son. It was unthinkable. He would never have been able to even think about doing something like that to his precious Ayame. He would never force a burden like that onto someone, especial his own child, he loved his little girl far too much.

But the connection made sense. If this 'sand jutsu genin' _was_ like Naruto, then it would explain why he wouldn't care for anyone, why he would _hate_ everyone. To be hated and not given any respite, to have no safe haven to run to. Teuchi suddenly found himself wondering what the young man sitting at one of his stools would have turned out like if he had never found Ichiraku's Ramen Stand, or if he had turned the boy away like everyone else. The very idea made him shiver.

Naruto snapped the cook out of his thoughts. "Hey old man, you alright? You just kinda stopped moving all of a sudden."

Teuchi realized that he had indeed been acting strangely. It wasn't everyday that he just stood stock still in the middle of making his ramen. But at that moment he really didn't care about how he looked to Naruto or his daughter. The only thing he cared about was figuring out if there might be a way to help another boy like Naruto. He wasn't really sure what drove him, but the thought of someone being forced to become a monster because everyone thought of that person as a monster to begin with… it was just wrong. People like Naruto were forced to bear a burden that normal people couldn't comprehend, and they hated those that carried the burden because of that.

Teuchi, who was still distressing his best customer and his daughter with his actions suddenly asked "Naruto, how did other people from the Hidden Sand treat that sand jutsu kid? How did they act around him?"

Naruto tilted his head and squinted his eyes. This was just getting weird. Er… well… weird_er_. First old man Ichiraku just freezes in place and then he asks this completely random question about some foreign ninja. Eh, the old man was taking this somewhere, so he might as well go along with it.

Naruto thought back to how Gaara'a teammates and sensei had looked and acted around him, and how make-up face had talked about him. Naruto's brow furrowed as he answered.

"It was like… they were afraid he was gonna do something. And then when Gaara got injured in his match with bushy-brows, make-up face said it wasn't a good thing, and he seemed kinda scared." Naruto paused, remembering Gaara's actions at the end of that match. The guy had acted weird, like Gaara couldn't understand why Lee's sensei had stepped in to save his life. It was like… it was like… Gaara didn't understand what it meant to care for people. But that was stupid wasn't it? Everybody had precious people, and it was only natural to protect them…

Naruto stopped that train of thought as he looked back on his own life, just a few years before. Before he had found Ichiraku's Ramen Stand after he failed the Genin exam the first time. Before Iruka-sensei had started being nice to him in his final year at the Academy. Before he had met Konohamaru and Moegi and Udon by mere chance. In an instant, Naruto saw what Teuchi had mere minutes before.

Fear from his teammates. Not understanding other people. Abilities that no one else could do. The feeling of familiarity… it was because Gaara had lived through the same things he had. Which meant…

Naruto's voice was hoarse and hesitant "You… you think… he might be like me?"

At his words, Ayame's eyes widened. While she had been young, merely three years old, at the time of the fox's attack on the village, she knew of Naruto's role of being the Kyuubi vessel. She had at first avoided Naruto at all costs, but her father sat her down and explained that to think the boy and the demon were one and the same would be an insult to the Fourth. She had taken her father's words to heart, but it had only been after she had actually spoken to the fox vessel did she actually start to believe them. She had been amazed at how the boy had seemed to cling onto any kindness shown to him, and just how trusting he had been with anyone that gave him attention. Later on, she realized the truth.

Naruto had been desperate. He had been desperate to find someone, anyone that didn't hate him or ignore him entirely. He had been desperate trying to find a reason to _keep_ _living_. After that day, she simply couldn't find it within herself to ever say anything cruel or mean to him. She couldn't help but be kind to the blonde, once she realized how close Naruto had come to simply giving up on life. To think that there was someone else, someone who had been through the same things, and had never found that someone who accepted them… Oh Kami…

"I have to help him." Naruto whispered, but it was heard clearly by both members of the Ichiraku family. Both Ayame and Teuchi couldn't help but nod. Naruto was practically a part of their family, and they knew that something like this would force Naruto into action. And like any good family, they would help however they could.

Naruto, not even noticing their reactions, was lost in his own thoughts. Suddenly everything that he had noticed about Gaara made sense, and it all just clicked into place in his mind. How his teammates had been terrified when Gaara had shown up in that alleyway. How Gaara had threatened to kill his own comrades without even batting an eye. Why Gaara couldn't comprehend the acts of kindness. It was because he had probably never been shown any.

Naruto steeled himself and resolved to help Gaara. He refused to believe that Gaara was too far gone. Naruto had been saved from being alone simply because a few people treated him like a normal person, and he would do the same for Gaara. He would not pity Gaara, he would not sympathize. Those were things Naruto hated, and he was positive Gaara would hate it too. He would simply be there for the redheaded genin, as a friend. He would show Gaara what it meant to truly care for people, as Haku had shown him.

'_Besides'_, Naruto thought, _'what kind of Hokage would I be, if I can't save someone from himself.'_

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Ebisu walked into Ichraku's Ramen Stand to find Naruto and the two workers talking fervently with each other. Each had a look of intense thought and determination on their face, and the special-jounin caught the last bit of one of Naruto's sentences as he entered.

"-vince him. It'll work, I know it will. You better believe it." Naruto nodded his head enthusiastically as he finished speaking.

As soon as they noticed Ebisu, everyone stopped talking and just stared at him. He almost felt like just turning around and leaving, the intensity of the stares was so great. The old chef broke the uneasy silence when he noticed the forehead protector on Ebisu's bandana.

"Hey Naruto, is this who you're meeting? I thought you said your sensei was supposed to be stopping by. And I know you instructor is the Copy-nin Kakashi, so who is this guy?" It was a rude question, considering that Ebisu was standing right in front of them. But more than one ninja who felt like harassing Naruto would come to the stand and wait for him, and Teuchi Ichiraku would be damned if he let that happen in his own restaurant.

Teuchi paused however, when he saw Naruto's face. The blonde's eyes were closed and scrunched, as if he was in pain, and his eyebrows were furrowed. For a moment Naruto looked old, far older than he was. Teuchi was suddenly reminded that the boy, despite his normally positive demeanor and optimism, had still lived through far more than he himself probably ever would. And the old chef suddenly knew that something had happened recently, during the Chuunin Exams. Something had hurt the boy, and hurt him deeply.

"Naruto?" Ayame questioned hesitantly.

After a small moment of tense silence, Naruto responded.

"Kakashi-san didn't want to train me, since it would take up too much of his time to help Sasuke. He asked Ebisu-sensei here to help me with my basics instead. He's gonna be training me this month." As he finished speaking the blonde ninja went back to eating his ramen, as if he hadn't just said his teacher had abandoned him.

Ayame just stood in place, trying to wrap her mind around what Naruto said. She was well aware that people died in the exams, and if Naruto wasn't prepared… she couldn't even finish the thought. Her father started sputtering something about stupid Uchiha punks getting everything. It was no secret that Teuchi disliked Sasuke Uchiha. He had sympathized with the boy after the Uchiha Massacre, but he didn't think it gave the so-called Last Uchiha the right to step all over other people. He had, sadly, lost a good deal of business after his sentiments became known, and many considered him cold-hearted for thinking such a thing about the victim of a horrible tragedy.

Ebisu, believing that he was now allowed into the ramen stand, walked forward and took a seat next to Naruto as he introduced himself. "I am Ebisu, Elite Personal Teacher, and-"

"A closet pervert."

Ebisu sharply turned his head to glare at Naruto, only to find him loudly slurping at his ramen. With his eyes narrowed, trying to figure how the boy managed to eat and speak at the same time, the special-jounin continued. "And" He whipped his head around again to look at Naruto, as if daring him to interrupt once more. Sensing that he wouldn't, Ebisu kept going. "I am going to be training Naruto-kun in far more than just the basics, as Kakashi-kun requested. I have already come up with a training regimen, several ninjutsu he is going to learn, and a taijutsu style that I believe fits him quite well. With this, I have no doubt he will become a chuunin."

Both Teuchi and Ayame's faces lit up after hearing Ebisu's words. It was the first time they had ever heard about someone actively taking a part in Naruto's ninja life, aside from Iruka. Naruto, on the other hand, was quite vocal in his disbelief at what the special-jounin had said.

"Yea, yea, that's really impressive closet pervert, but how am I supposed to _learn_ all that in a month." Naruto was proud of what skills he did have and he thought he picked up on things pretty quick, but to be able to learn all that and be _good_ at those jutsus and such within four weeks…. It wasn't gonna happen, and he couldn't go against Neji Hyuuga only knowing half of a taijutsu style.

Ebisu, on other hand, was actually glad Naruto was questioning him. It would give him a chance to prove that he was a far better instructor than Kakashi. It was the perfect opportunity to be able to demonstrate his truly massive and _clearly_ superior grasp of the shinobi arts. He was after all, Ebisu, the Elite Personal Teacher. However… the boy didn't seem to know about the benefits of shadow clones, which was disturbing since it was the brat's most often used jutsu. Certainly Kakashi had told him about it… never mind.

"Naruto-kun, you use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu quite a bit don't you?"

Naruto nodded, of course he did. It was the best jutsu he knew. But what did that have to do with anything?

"Have you ever noticed that when you use it, you just might see things from a _different_ _perspective_, hmm?" Ebisu silently prayed that the boy would pick up on it, otherwise training this month might be a little bit more difficult than he first assumed. Besides, the boy needed to learn to pick up on subtle hints and cues, especially if he couldn't figure out this not-so-subtle-hint.

Naruto's head tilted as his eyes scrunched up and his mouth thinned. The blonde genin had indeed picked up on the stressed words, and he knew that they had _something_ to do with his favorite jutsu since the questions were right after the other, but what? Well, okay, he'd look back on the last time he'd used the jutsu… which was… his match against Kiba today. Yea, when he used that totally cool new move of his along with his shadow clones to win the fight. He didn't remember anything out of the ordinary when he did it though. First he had kicked Kiba in the chest, sides and back so he soared into the air, and then he had done an axe kick to the Inuzuka's face… wait.

'_I didn't kick him in the first part of the combo, I just did the axe kick, so why do I remember kicking him the other times. I had my clones… do… that.'_

Naruto blinked slowly as the thought entered his head. So… if he used the jutsu, and he remembered doing things from the match that his clones had done… then… he… should remember… other things his clones did? Maybe? Okay, he'd go back further, during that fight with the team from Rain in the second exam. He remembered… punching one illusion in the face while a few feet past that he had a clone kneeing another in the chin. And then he had a memory of kneeing one of them in the chin while seeing a clone punch another in the face… what the _hell_?!?

He had memories of punching two different illusions at the same freaking time! How had he not noticed this!

With his eyes widened in realization, he looked over at Ebisu. The blonde genin's jaw was wide open and he had a batch of noodles hanging out of his mouth. This was unreal. He knew the things his clones did. This… this… this was flipping awesome! He could just have a clone do one thing, while he was doing another! No! Scratch that! He would have a dozen clones doing something, and a dozen others doing other stuff while the real him could just lounge around eating ramen all day. This was _so_ sweet.

Ebisu was inwardly grinning at the dumbstruck look on Naruto's face, though on the outside he hadn't let any of his approval show. It seemed as though the orange clad young man had figured it out, as well as thought of all the possibilities this new information about the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu offered. Ebisu had to admit, if only to himself, that if it weren't for the learning abilities that the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu possessed, he probably wouldn't be a special-jounin. It was the fastest way to learn anything, and if a clone had an idea about a how a jutsu could be improved or learned, that idea was simply absorbed into the original once the clones were dispelled.

The special-jounin chuckled silently to himself. _'Oh yes, Naruto-kun will beat the Uchiha with this training, and I will be known as a better teacher than the Copy-nin himself!'_

Granted, he was sure that training Naruto would be an… enlightening experience, but the reward… oh the reward would be so magnificent. Naruto would become a chuunin, making it one step closer to his dream of being Hokage. As for himself, he would achieve the reputation of being able to turn a dead-last of the academy into a true shinobi in a single month. Or… he would get a bad reputation for training the so called "demon brat". Eh, who cared what those people thought. He sure wouldn't.

"Now that you figured it out Naruto-kun, there are some things that you need to know about using it. While the clones will transfer all their memories to you, the real you still needs to train so you can maintain your physical abilities. So you will not be allowed to be lollygagging and letting the jutsu do all the work for you."

Naruto stared back blankly in response.

Ebisu sighed before making it clearer. "It means you will have to be training alongside your clones."

Damn. Well there went his "eat ramen all day" idea. And he had really been looking forward to that. Speaking of ramen, he still had to ask the closet pervert why he gave those orders about Sakura-chan and his favorite food.

"Okay I get it, closet pervert, no slackin' off, but I gotta ask you about this ramen and Sakura-chan thing you told me to do. What's up with those orders of yours, huh?"

Ebisu was slightly angry at the fact that Naruto continued to call him closet pervert in front of other people, but with a quick glance towards the two chefs, he realized they didn't care what Naruto was calling him. They just continued on with their business while listening in on what he would be doing to help Naruto for the Chuunin Exams. Ayame was wiping the counter while her father was boiling some eggs for the next batch of ramen, so he decided he would the comment slide. This time.

He'd beat it into the brat's head not to call him that eventually, but right now he had to convince the blonde that his obsessions most definitely needed to be removed. Or at the very least, they needed to be curbed. He was very glad he already had come up with some reasons that Naruto would listen to.

"Alright Naruto-kun, let's start off with what I said about the Haruno girl. I'm going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer them quickly and honestly okay?"

Naruto squinted his eyes in hesitation, trying to figure out where the older ninja was going to go with these questions, but figured it he should play along. After a moment, he nodded.

"Good, good. Now tell me, how often does the Haruno girl ask out the Uchiha?" Ebisu asked as he mentally smiled. This plan was going to work for sure!

"All the time! Like at least once a day. I mean what has he ever done for her? He just tells her to go away or to leaver him alone. I don't know what she sees in him." As Naruto finished ranting he went back to finishing another bowl of ramen as he waited for Ebisu to ask the next question. If he had looked at the special-jounin's face, however, he would have seen the grin hidden behind the hands clasped together in front of Ebisu's face.

"So, what do you think most girls see in the Uchiha then?"

Naruto paused as he swallowed some of his food before responding. He had heard more than enough from Sakura-chan and Ino to piece together what they saw in the Uchiha prodigy. "All the girls think that he's handsome, and a good ninja, and smart, and from a good family. I mean, I know he's a good ninja, I've admitted to it. But… that doesn't make him a good person. You should've seen it when he got angry at Sakura-chan for _caring_ about him during the preliminaries! He's such a bastard!"

Ebisu's grin was now bordering on predatory. He had Naruto cornered for when he threw in the final piece. But it wasn't time yet. There was still more that he would make Naruto realize.

"What do you think the Uchiha has done do deserve such… devotion from Sakura?"

Naruto's answer made Ebisu even happier. "Absolutely nothin'. Like I said, he's a bastard. If a girl asks him out he just blows her off like she's worthless, or he's mean and tells them not to be so annoying." Naruto snorted. "I'd never treat a girl like that."

Ebisu's grin was vanishing slowly, though he was ecstatic at how smoothly this plan of his was coming along. He just couldn't let Naruto know it he had been aiming for these kinds of answers.

"Now Naruto-kun, this is the final question, and then I'm going to ask you to compare something. What do you think of fan-girls?"

Naruto didn't even bother answering that question with words. He just made a vomiting motion and then went back to eating his ramen. In Ebisu's mind, he was doing a victory dance.

"I thought so. Now Naruto-kun, I want you to compare how the Uchiha treats his fan-girls, to how the Haruno girl treats you. Then compare what she has done do deserve the kind of devotion you show her and how the Uchiha deserves the devotion she gives him."

As soon as Ebisu stopped talking, Naruto's mind went into overdrive. He instantly remembered everything he had just said during the series of questions and was about ready to smash his head into the countertop. He knew that Ebisu had tricked him into realizing just how similar Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan were when it came to others trying to win their affection. But that wasn't all he was upset about.

What really upset him, was that the comparison's were almost _exact_. Sasuke blew off anyone he felt wasn't worth his time, which was everyone, and Sakura-chan blew off everyone but Sasuke. Then there was the way they treated every that was interested in them. It was the same. Sasuke's fan-girls asked him out constantly only to be turned away like trash. Just like Sakura-chan did to him when he asked her out, except that he usually got bruises in addition to the regular rejection she gave.

'_And broken teeth.'_ He thought, as his tongue felt out the new incisors in his mouth.

The final comparison, though, was what ended his crush of 5 long years, ever since he had first spoken to her at the academy so long ago.

What had Sakura-chan done for him to be so in love with her? He had shown her kindness, shown her compassion, was always there when the bastard Uchiha knocked her down with his rejections. She had done nothing, he realized. Nothing was deserving of the affection he showed her. All his time at the academy, all his time on team 7, he had believed he was in love with her. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful to him, that would be nothing but a straight out lie. But he saw it now. He wasn't in love with her. She wasn't his Sakura-chan. She had never been. He had blinded himself the same way the Sasuke fan-girls blinded themselves to how Sasuke treated them. He had seen her as a beautiful girl that was foolishly following the Uchiha. But was he any better?

'_No.'_ He thought. He hadn't been any better than a pathetic fan-boy when it came to Sakura-ch… Sakura. He hung his head, and realized that all the time he had spent on his pink haired teammate had been for nothing. He was ashamed. All that time, everyday… he had been as foolish as the girls he made fun of.

Ebisu noticed Naruto's lowering mood and decided to step in before the blonde orphan got some ridiculous notion that he was the one at fault for all this. The special-jounin sighed. He would probably have to teach the boy not to blame himself for everything that went wrong.

"Naruto-kun, don't blame yourself. It is the Haruno girl's fault, and the Uchiha's as well. Don't believe even for a moment that you have the right to think you're the one to be blamed." At those words, Naruto lifted up his head and turned to look at Ebisu. The blue-clad ninja was once again caught off guard by just how strikingly _blue_ they were. A small and genuine smile, one of the few that Ebisu had ever seen on Naruto, adorned the blonde's face. The orphan then said a single word, which was soft and heartfelt.

"Thanks."

Ebisu could only nod in response as he wondered if Kakashi had ever talked like this to the boy. The special-jounin sadly noted that it wasn't very likely, and the more he thought about it the more he knew he would be arguing with the copy-nin during the day of the finals.

Every extra minute Ebisu was spending with Naruto, he was realizing that not only had the genin not had anyone to help him with his ninja training, he had no one to help him… at all. To grow, to mature. There was no one, except for Iruka Umino, who was almost always trying to convince others hat Naruto was just a young, lonely boy. And Ebisu realized that even if anyone believed the chuunin teacher, no one had acted on it. Naruto had no one to teach him how to respond to certain situations, not on the battlefield, but in life. He had no one he could really go to if he had a problem, he had no role model, except for these two restaurant workers and an overworked academy teacher.

These thoughts, of course, brought out many questions that he was honestly afraid of hearing the answers. Had anyone taught Naruto to read? To write? Had anyone explained the concepts of love and relationships? Had anyone sat him down and given him the talk about sex and puberty? About what words just weren't to be used in public? How to show respect to someone of a higher status?

Each question brought about sinking feeling in his gut, but also a determination to teach the blonde orphan not just about being a ninja, but about being a person. And he was going start now.

"So" Ebisu started, trying to lighten the mood, "what do you want to ask me concerning your ramen?" At this Teuchi stopped cleaning his cooking utensils and not so subtly decided to listen more to the conversation.

"You want me to avoid ramen as much as possible, I mean… what's the deal? Ramen is, like, the greatest food _ever_!" At Naruto's words, Teuchi Ichiraku turned around quickly and joined the conversation.

"What's this I hear about not eating ramen, Ebisu-san?" Ebisu raised his eyebrows at the old man's interjection and appearance. Teuchi had a hard look in his eye, and in his right hand there was a rather large meat cleaver. The sunglasses wearing shinobi paused for a moment. He expected to meet some resistance, but this was a bit much. He would have to tread carefully and appeal to the man's care for Naruto.

"Ichiraku-san, you know that a growing boy needs plenty of vitamins and minerals. I also know that you know, with you being a ramen chef, that eating ramen all the time is simply not healthy."

Teuchi's face softened slightly and nodded, he knew that too much ramen wasn't good for the body, but… he knew Naruto didn't have anywhere else to go for a normally priced meal. Every other store and restaurant in the Village of the Hidden Leaf either refused to serve the blonde, or made him pay high prices for poor and old products. Not to mention the boy was practically the highlight of every day he worked in his little restaurant. Teuchi didn't _want_ Naruto to stop coming to his ramen stand. It just wasn't… it… he wouldn't know what to do if the boy stopped coming. He couldn't fathom it.

Naruto of course, refused to believe the health warning, the same as he had Kakashi's sole warning about eating fruits and vegetables back when team 7 was first formed. "Hey, I eat ramen all the time, I have forever, and I feel fine. See, I'm fit as can be." As the genin finished he flexed his biceps in a display of how physically fit he was. While Ebisu had to admit, there was a lot of muscle for a thirteen year old, Naruto had to learn that health was beyond just surface appearances. And if Naruto wouldn't listen if he said something was good for him, well then he'd show how bad the other choices were.

"Naruto-kun, do you know why you're so short?" Naruto eyes widened at the question, before narrowing as he glared at the older ninja. Teuchi couldn't help but gawk at the man, since it was well known that Naruto took his small stature very, _very_ seriously.

"It is because you are not getting enough vitamins, enough minerals, and enough nutrients for you to properly grow. If you don't start eating right, who knows? You might just… stay at your height… _forever_."

At those words, Naruto nearly froze. His face shifted into a near comical expression of shock and fear. For a full minute he stayed like that. He was just sitting on his stool while frozen in apparent horror. Ayame, Teuchi, and Ebisu continued to stare at him, waiting for a reaction. After a full three minutes of nothing, Naruto suddenly moved his eyes to the half finished bowl of ramen on the counter next to him. Then quickly and forcefully, as if afraid that just touching the bowl would harm him, Naruto pushed the ramen to the far side of the countertop.

Ebisu didn't even try to stop himself as he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Naruto-kun, you don't have to _physically_ avoid ramen. Just… eat other foods, and have some fruits and vegetables. If you know how to prepare them, they can taste just as good as ramen." Teuchi had to hand it to the man, he knew how to appeal to Naruto's weak points.

Ayame, who had been silently listening in while doing the dishes and rinsing the food, decided to join in. She, like her father, had no real desire for Naruto to stop coming to their ramen stand. However, unlike her father, she had an idea to keep it from happening. "Hey dad, why don't we just, you know… start selling food other than ramen. We can start on that diet ramen recipe you've been thinking about, and ask for a shipment of some other food."

Teuchi, feeling the weight of the stares of the other people in the ramen stand, muttered something about "thinking about it" and "money issues" before heading to the back room. Ayame, after a small wave and throwing a washrag over her shoulder, followed him.

With just the two of them out front, while the Ichiraku's debated on expanding the ramen stand, Naruto and Ebisu returned to their conversation about proper dieting and health issues. It took almost a full twenty minutes for Ebisu to convince Naruto to vary his diet, even after the 'staying short forever' approach. It was only due to the special-jounin's comment of him being the shortest Hokage in history did Naruto cave in and admit he would eat what Ebisu told him to.

Naruto, despite being frustrated at being forced to give up his favorite food, still wanted to know what Ebisu had in store for him this month. Being told that he would be able to beat Neji Hyuuga with ease made him incredibly interested in what super cool and amazing training methods Ebisu would have him do. When the ramen loving ninja asked, Ebisu's answer wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"I'll tell you what I have in mind for this month soon enough, I promise. But I need you to tell me about how this Chuunin Exam has been for you, and what has happened in the first two tests."

Naruto was naturally annoyed at the delay in learning of his new training, but after almost _another_ half hour and constantly being told to stop exaggerating, the story of what he had done during the Chuunin Exams so far was revealed. At the end of it, Ebisu was slack jawed. He had learned that Naruto had befriended Kabuto, who Ebisu had learned was a spy of Orochimaru via a chuunin messenger not two hours before. He learned that a team of Rain ninja had decided to target team 7 multiple times through the second exam which ended in him using shadow clones to fight illusions for a good six hours or so, that Naruto passed the first test with a _completely_ blank paper, and that he had killed one of Orochimaru's larger snake summons. What had left him speechless, as well as disturbed though, was the bit about Naruto being struck on the stomach by what was described as a "purple flaming finger jutsu" by a "crazy snake bastard".

Ebisu was aware that Naruto's team had been targeted by Orochimaru, but all of the high ranking shinobi had thought the S-Class missing-nin had only injured the Uchiha during the exam. That nobody noticed, or had even checked the other two teammates was showing an almost disgusting level of favoritism, by both Kakashi and the higher-ups. In addition, Naruto did not mention the curse mark on the Uchiha... he would question him about that later on if Naruto was trying to cover his teammate.

His fears became unfounded when Naruto lifted up his shirt and molded some chakra at Ebisu's request only to find that it was a Five Elements Seal. At Naruto's questioning look and confused expression, the special-jounin went on to explain just what it did and what it was used for.

"The Five Elements Seal was originally created as a method to improve chakra control. Now, has Kakashi taught you about elemental affinity, because it will make explaining this easier."

Naruto's blank face answered the questioned without words. After mentally adding _another_ thing on the list to yell at the Copy-nin for, Ebisu continued.

"Each person has a unique elemental affinity. There is water, earth, fire, wind, and lightning. Sometimes affinities are passed down through families, like the Uchiha clan who are… _were_ almost all fire element. It can also be random, there isn't any real way to tell which element you are until you test for it, which we'll do tomorrow. The Five Element Seal forces the chakra in your body to shift between the elemental affinities. You might be a wind element for a while, and then the seal will change the chakra into fire, even though you are normally a lightning type. Because your body is used to your element, when the seal forces the chakra to change, it makes it difficult to control. And since the seal is regularly altering your chakra, you must re-learn to mold and use it every time the chakra changes. This increases your chakra control rapidly, since it _forces_ you to manage chakra that your body shouldn't have.

"In addition, since the Imprisonment Seal on your stomach also has several even numbered seals to allow the Kyuubi's chakra and your own to mix, it further damages your chakra control."

"Why does it do that?" Naruto more demanded than asked. He was beyond pissed that he had had to fight Kiba with this thing on him, especially now that he knew what it did.

"Now I'm not an expert on sealing, I know of the Five Element Seal because it is used regularly to improve chakra control, but I do know one of the basic rules. An even numbered seal combined with and odd numbered seal, like the Five Elements, causes the chakra to become imbalanced. This further damaged your chakra control. All things considered Naruto-kun, I'm amazed you made it through the second test with this. You should be proud of yourself."

At the complement, Naruto blushed on a level that rivaled a certain Hyuuga heiress and then quickly looked away. Though the response was amusing, Ebisu was distressed and saddened that such a simple complement had that kind of reaction. Was the boy truly so neglected by Kakashi and others that a simple thing like "be proud of yourself" could force him into this kind of happiness? After looking at Naruto's still flushed face and the massive heartfelt smile that was slowly forming, Ebisu knew his answer.

With the explanation of the seal out of the way, the Elite Personal Teacher moved the conversation back to what Naruto had originally wanted to talk about: his new training.

"We'll start on your chakra control tomorrow, and we _will_ be keeping the Five Elements Seal on you." Noticing Naruto's attempt to object, Ebisu explained. "By keeping the seal, you will improve that much more, that much faster on you chakra control. We're going to be going at a fast pace and every bit will help. After you've mastered walking on water… don't look at me like that. You _can_ use chakra to walk on water, and by tomorrow evening you _will_ know how."

Naruto's skeptical expression remained, but he was interested. He was almost positive that Sasuke couldn't walk on water. And if he learned how to do this whole walking on water thing, he'd be one step closer to becoming Hokage. Besides, if he could walk on water… damn. That's just cool. After gesturing for Ebisu to go on and ordering another half dozen bowls of ramen, the special-jounin continued outlining his master training plan.

"After the water walking exercise, we will move on to improving your speed and strength by using chakra. Those two exercises must be mastered before we start on your taijutsu style. The style I picked for you should be perfect. It is called Free-mind Boxing." At the name, Naruto's interest was piqued then and there for one reason only, the name sounded cool. And if something sounded cool, it usually was. "I'll be picking up a scroll on it this evening and some of your shadow clones will start practicing the stances and moves tomorrow. Once you are able of using the taijutsu style in actual combat, we will start jutsu and weapons training."

Ebisu paused as he took a drink from his tea. He had noticed something… off… about Naruto when he had mentioned the part about learning taijutsu from a scroll. It wasn't quite fear, but it was close, and the orange loving genin looked both slightly upset and hesitant. Ebisu quickly searched his mind as he thought of why Naruto might act this way, and came to the only decent conclusion. A conclusion that made him hate both himself and everyone else in the village.

Naruto couldn't read. Or more likely, he couldn't read very well. Now that he actually knew the young blonde, he couldn't help but feel a certain hostility towards those who had mistreated the boy or ignored him entirely. He made a mental note to pick up some beginners books on how to read in case his theory turned out to be true. In addition, he silently promised to do everything he could to help Naruto learn and teach him things beyond ninja training.

When Naruto asked what weapon he would be learning to use, Ebisu smiled slightly. This was where the fox vessel would pick the weapon he would probable end up using his entire life. And he was inordinately glad that it was him and not Kakashi who was here. The silver haired man simply didn't deserve to be a part of Naruto's growth, not anymore.

"Well, that's for you to decide Naruto-kun, I'm letting you pick your weapon. It could be a weapon that either complements the Free-mind Boxing style, or offsets it. Trench knives, a kerambit, or other fist weapons would fit the style, while a long ranged weapon like a sword or scythe would be a good choice if you want the weapon to have a different use outside of your taijutsu. Choosing one could strengthen your taijutsu but limits your options, while the other offers more flexibility in a fight."

Naruto sat and wondered as he ate his ramen. He really couldn't decide. He had only ever used kunai and shuriken, and to use a new weapon… he had no idea what to pick. He didn't know if a sword would suit him, or if he should use trench knives like the closet pervert said to make his taijutsu style more dangerous. After a few minutes, the blonde demon vessel threw up his hands and said he couldn't make up his mind.

The special-jounin frowned thoughtfully for a moment before asking Naruto "Is there any weapon that you find interesting, or imagined yourself using. Maybe there is something from a… book or scroll, a movie or another ninja that you've seen carrying a weapon around?"

Naruto once again entered his thinking expression, with his eyes squinted and his mouth drawn tight and his arms folded across his chest. Suddenly, it came to him. It had been the second weapon he had ever seen on a real mission. And… if he went about it right… yes. Yes, it could work. He could convince Gaara, go there, pick it up, and learn to use it. While he was there he could prove to Gaara what it really meant to care for others. Yes! Yes it was perfect! It was a perfect idea… if he could convince his fellow demon vessel to come along.

He dropped his head slightly at the thought. It would be tough to find Gaara and convince him not to kill him on sight, much less to go on a small training journey with two apparent strangers. But he had to try. He had to try and go there to get the weapon, and he knew he had to convince Gaara to care for others. It was the only way he would be able to save someone… someone like himself. Someone who had suffered just as much as he had. Either way…

He had to try, and he couldn't give up. That was his way of the ninja.

"Closet pervert, I know what weapon I wanna learn to use." Ebisu raised an eyebrow at the blonde's words. He expected the blue eyed prankster to say outright what he wanted to learn. So why was he beating around the bush?

"We'll have to leave the village to get it though…"

Ebisu nodded his head. So that's why Naruto was hesitant.

"And I'd like to take someone with us."

The personal tutor looked at Naruto with a face that was clearly asking for an explanation. After a deep and calming breath, Naruto gave him one.

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An hour later, and after the older ninja had paid for an incredible seventeen bowls of ramen, teacher and student walked out of Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. The teacher was slightly dazed at the incredible information he had gotten, and the plan his new student had come up with to help someone who had been forced to suffer the fate of being a living sacrifice. The student was ecstatic at numerous things: at his plan possibly becoming a reality, at his new training schedule, and the knowledge that his teacher actually, truly cared for him and his improvement.

As the two parted ways, with the student headed towards his apartment and the teacher towards the Hokage Tower, one final message was given.

"Naruto-kun, if you can convince him, I'll let this happen. But since we'll have to leave to pick up your weapon and get back, you don't have much time to persuade him. We'll train here at the village for five days. If you can't get him to come along by then, we leave without him. Now get some sleep tonight and meet me at the Hokage Tower tomorrow morning at nine sharp."

As Naruto walked away from his new teacher, feeling better than he had all day, he noticed that he didn't feel tired in the slightest. Knowing that there could only be one real reason why, Naruto took a glance up towards the sky just to be positive. And sure enough, bright and beautiful and framed by silver clouds was a full moon. He wasn't sure if he was just weird when it came to a full moon, or if it was the Kyuubi deep inside him, but on the night of a full moon he would not sleep. And the longer he stayed there looking up at the bright orb in the stars, the more his blood sang and his body urged him to simply _move_. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep tonight, but he knew that if he gave in to what his instincts were screaming at him to do, he would be too tired in the morning for training. With his mind made up, Naruto leapt up to the rooftops intent on simply laying in the moonlight until dawn.

'_Who knows, maybe I'll get a head start on thinking about how to convince Gaara not to kill me.'_

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And during all this, a white haired man continued to peep on the women's hot springs, with his research undisturbed.

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Okay, here's chapter 3. Sorry it took so long, but I had a tough time writing this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it, since it's a bit less… angst driven than the last few chapters. There's also a bit more dialogue than before, since this was pretty much a setup chapter. The last two chapters were the introduction, while from here on out you'll start seeing the real changes that will make this story different from the manga and anime.

Also, I have no doubt that some of you will be going "hey, that scene where Teuchi and Naruto figure out Gaara is a vessel just isn't likely". So to those that think that, you need to understand that just a few minutes difference can make a huge change. In cannon, Naruto and Ebisu stop at Ichiraku's together and discuss chakra control and Naruto still didn't want to train under him. But here Naruto was able to talk to Ichiraku without anyone else interrupting or having the subject changed which led to Ichiraku remembering what he heard about Gaara.

Now, I have an announcement for the poll. I've read the reviews, and listened to some people, and I'm pretty much set on who Naruto will be paired with and what direction I'm going to take the story after the Sasuke retrieval arc. I kept looking at one of my possible plotlines and every time I looked it over, I kept finding myself wanting to write that one more and more. So yes, I have decided Naruto's future for this particular story of mine.

Will I tell you all… no. Sorry, but I'm not going to reveal what's to happen in the future. Just read and find out!

Alright, as usual, I'd like to thank all of my reviewers. So here's the list of those who made me feel good about myself: maneyan, Kai Dragoon, InuyashaHoujo, Rain Raider, ACTION NARUTO LOVER, roboguy45, vnienhuis, copyeye, Seiryuu Ryuujin, Bandit Ken, mangalover248, Ghostboy814, underslayer, Godentine, Igrainne, Gaara218, loli04, Lady Arianrhod, ichi-bro, Angel Alayah, mortalone, Monkeymandb, IEatChicken, raziel44, Harbringer Lady, crusnik, Kage Mistress of Shadows, Demonkid, Paladin of the Blazing Dragon, Dragon Noir, cmartist, Princess Lena aka Lady Kittuna, Telas of the Organization, alterego94, and Whispering-KAZE.

Whew, if I get this many reviewers, I might have to stop writing them all out, haha.

And now to answer a few questions and respond to the reviewers, at least those I can answer without giving away the story too much.

Seiryuu Ruujin you are correct, only Jiraiya knows of Naruto's heritage. Yes he will be showing up soon to add his two cents to Naruto's training. But it won't be how you guys are probably thinking.

Mangalover248 is exactly right when it came to Sakura last chapter. Sakura is, essentially, a very obsessed and very young fan-girl. While she is a ninja, she is also inexperienced at dealing with new things, and she is also a victim of peer pressure, in a way. Almost all of the Rookie 9 has been taught to dislike Naruto in some way or another. If not by their parents, then by their teachers at the academy. Sakura only sees Naruto as an idiot, a good ninja, but still an idiot because she had been taught to see him that way. And while I don't like her character in part 1, she did accept her role as a protector of her teammates in the Forest of Death. That was a lot more than I had originally expected of her.

For Gaara218's question about summons… well, you'll see in a few chapters.

Mortalone, I read your review and I am taking your advice. I have chosen the girl who Naruto will enter a relationship with, I measured up the poll results and while that did impact my decision a bit, I really just made up my own mind about the story. That's kind of a big deal for me, since like I said last chapter, I am very indecisive.

IEatChicken, thank you for your awesomely awesome review. When I read it, it made me feel awesome.

Thank you Dragon Noir for your input about my other stories, but please, remove your AK-47 from my "little soldier".

And finally, Whispering-KAZE, I was impressed at your guess about the seal. I purposely made the references to it vague, so good job.

On a final note, the next chapter may be a little later than some of you want. I am taking a summer college course and I have a test this week. In addition, I am going to write out the very first chapter of Birds of Clay. I'm going to start writing it, and then maybe put it on hold for a little while as I get this story further along. So thanks for reading and please review.


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